Nearly 200 nations have agreed on a fresh push to get the world back on track to halt the destruction of nature by 2030, after tense talks at the United Nations biodiversity summit in Yerevan, Armenia.
The agreements were adopted on Friday, 30 October, at the COP17 summit, in overtime after two weeks of difficult negotiations. Delegates cheered as the crucial texts were approved, and COP17 president Hambardzum Matevosyan brought down the gavel to applause. The final versions of the documents were not immediately made public.
The deal follows a historic pact adopted in 2022, which set ambitious targets to stop biodiversity loss by 2030. Before this summit, however, the United Nations warned that countries would miss that goal unless they urgently changed course.
Progress on most objectives is falling short, including the targets to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans, to tackle pollution, and to give poorer countries more finance for conservation.
Reaction from conservation groups was cautiously positive. Catherine Weller from Fauna and Flora told AFP the text “needed to respond to the irrefutable evidence that we are off track for our 2030 deadline, and while not particularly exciting or detailed, it’s good news that countries could reach agreement.”
Ecuador will host the next biodiversity summit in 2028.
The featured image is illustrative only and is not a photo of the summit.
Source: AFP via Free Malaysia Today
