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UN Biodiversity Conference charts Yerevan Pathway to accelerate global action for nature – EnviroNews
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The 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference concluded on Saturday, October 31, 2026, adopting a full range of decisions that advance the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) across scientific, technical and implementation-related topics. One major outcome was the Yerevan Pathway, a negotiated response to the first review of collective progress in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
The Conference comprised the 17th Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP17) and meetings of Parties to its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing.
The global review undertaken at COP17 was a stocktaking exercise grounded in the evidence distilled in the State of Biodiversity Action report, launched shortly beforehand. Assessing global progress, the report found that the world is off track to meet the Framework’s 23 targets by their 2030 deadline.
The Yerevan Pathway sets out a shared response to those findings, identifying priorities for action through 2030 and areas where progress will need to be accelerated. These include tackling nature-harmful subsidies and incentives, increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries, aligning national budgets and economic decisions with the KMGBF, and strengthening implementation, monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms.
Bringing together negotiated decisions, new financial commitments and initiatives, and action across government and society, the conference helped clear obstacles to implementation, mobilise resources to narrow the nature financing gap and strengthen the conditions needed to turn global commitments into action.
“Over these two weeks we have demonstrated that differences can be bridged, commitments can become decisions and cooperation can deliver,” said COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan. “With the adoption of the Yerevan Pathway, we demonstrate our collective determination to respond to one of the most urgent challenges of our time. It sets out priorities for collective action, from implementing national plans and mobilising financial resources to strengthening science, monitoring and the participation of all sectors of society.”
Alongside this shared direction, the 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference saw negotiated decisions on vital scientific topics including protected areas and forest biodiversity, sustainable wildlife management, invasive alien species, risk assessment of living modified organisms, marine and coastal biodiversity, synthetic biology, and biodiversity mainstreaming.
“The next four years must bring acceleration and alignment with what we agreed when we adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,” said the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker. “We know what needs to change. We cannot protect nature while continuing to finance its destruction. Resources must reach the countries and communities that need them. And biodiversity must become part of everyday economic decisions. Ultimately, the test is not what governments agreed in Yerevan, but what they change when they return home.”
Financing gaps, harmful incentives, limited access to technology, data and knowledge, and insufficient engagement across government and society remain major obstacles along the pathway to implementation. The Conference saw decisions, commitments and initiatives to help address these barriers, including a new emphasis on biodiversity education.
In a significant outcome following intensive negotiations, Parties agreed on the rules of operation for the new permanent subsidiary body on Article 8(j), officially named the Sevan Guidelines, marking a major step in strengthening the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in shaping global biodiversity policy and action.
Some of the announcements included nearly $2 billion in new biodiversity funding, including US $560 million under the GEF-9 replenishment and its Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, $500 million through the Species Recovery Alliance and over US $330 million through the Value Nature Fund, an effort to mobilise private capital for nature.
Other initiatives included the Presidency-led effort to reform harmful incentives, a new biodiversity bond and investment incubator launched by the Asian Development Bank, a proposed model framework law on forests to strengthen environmental enforcement and new State of Nature Indicators and Metrics to improve biodiversity monitoring and accountability.
“The world has already agreed a global plan to safeguard nature,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “This COP was about accelerating implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and turning those targets into decisive, real-world action.
“In Yerevan, we saw environmental multilateralism prevail once again. Countries came together, found the spirit of compromise and allowed us to agree important decisions that will support real progress for people and for planet.”
With four years remaining to achieve the world’s 23 biodiversity targets, attention now turns to implementing the decisions and commitments made in Yerevan. The Yerevan Pathway will help guide national efforts through 2030 with progress to be assessed through changes in policies, delivery of resources and measurable improvements for nature and people.
The next Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP18) will be held in 2028 in Ecuador, with two years remaining to achieve the world’s biodiversity targets.
