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World not on track to achieve biodiversity targets, as Nairobi meetings pave way for 2026 UN Conference – EnviroNews
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During nearly three weeks of negotiations in the Kenyan capital, Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity made progress in discussions on a wide range of scientific, technical, and implementation issues, thus paving the way for decisive intergovernmental negotiations at the 2026 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, including COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia this October.
From July 27 to August 1 at the twenty-eighth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-28), Parties found widespread consensus on issues surrounding sustainable wildlife management and the management of protected areas, synthetic biology and marine and coastal biodiversity conservation, as well as other underpinnings of the collective endeavour to halt and reverse biodiversity loss contained in the Convention and its Protocols.
Highlights included recommendations on the first update of the Convention’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas since its adoption in 2004, global voluntary guidance for sustainable wildlife management, and a thematic action plan to strengthen capacity-building, technology access, and knowledge-sharing in synthetic biology.
Directly following SBSTTA-28, from August 4 to 12, 2026, the seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-7) tackled how to strengthen key enablers of biodiversity action, including finance, mainstreaming, access to information, capacity-building and digital sequence information, among others. Strong willingness to engage was found on topics ranging from resource mobilisation and the Convention’s financial mechanism, to the role of communications and education as well as biodiversity mainstreaming, and Parties advanced recommendations aimed at strengthening the policies, resources, institutions, cooperation, and capacity needed to translate national and global biodiversity commitments into action.
Across both meetings, the Parties considered the key messages and conclusions of the first report on progress of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the “State of Biodiversity Action,” with a view to forging a common understanding of how gaps in progress can be overcome.
Agreed in 2022, the 2030 biodiversity targets have hit the halfway mark, and unprecedented engagement and momentum have been generated, with 130 Parties (more than 70%) submitting national reports and 172 Parties (almost 90%) submitting national targets that adapt global ambition to national circumstances.
Based on the record number of national reports submitted by Parties by the February 2026 deadline, the report constitutes a robust evidence base for assessing the progress achieved so far in the pursuit of the Framework’s 23 targets. It will serve as a basis for the review of collective progress in its implementation – one of the most prominent items on the agenda of COP17 in Yerevan, which will also discuss pathways towards accelerating the rate of progress.
While evidence contained in the global report shows promising efforts on conservation targets, others which pertain to the means of implementation have been sluggish, such as resource mobilisation, the repurposing of harmful subsidies or inclusive governance. With the conclusion of the two meetings in Nairobi, Parties achieved significant progress in acknowledging the current state of biodiversity action and the uneven progress achieved.
Differences still remain, however, in how to accelerate action towards achieving the 2030 targets. Intense discussions around the Cali Fund underscored its crucial importance as an instrument that will help the private sector give back to nature, and highlighted Parties’ strong desire to ensure that its governance and operations are fully aligned with the Convention’s priorities.
Speaking at the end of the meetings, Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention, said: “I think that we can all leave Nairobi with a sense of satisfaction at what we have accomplished here, but the task awaiting us in Yerevan in nine weeks will take all the stamina and determination that Parties can summon.
“When Parties convene in October for COP17 and the meetings of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, we will need strong agreement on pathways for addressing the gaps identified in the global report so that we can stay on track to achieve the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.”
She continued: “It is true that the progress is being made across all targets. However, implementation is not yet happening at the pace and scale needed to achieve the KMGBF. Fewer than half of aligned national targets assessed by Parties are currently on track, with some of the largest gaps in mobilising biodiversity finance, reforming harmful subsidies, addressing business impacts and dependencies, and shifting toward sustainable consumption.”
The findings of the report, together with recommendations from SBSTTA-28 and SBI-7, will feed into the 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference, taking place from October 19 to 30, 2026, in Yerevan, including COP17 and the meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols. At COP17, Parties will undertake the first global review of collective progress in implementing the KMGBF.
