The 17th UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17) opened in Yerevan, Armenia, on Monday, with representatives from nearly 200 countries meeting to assess progress towards global targets for protecting nature and oceans.
The two-week conference, running until October 30, will review progress on 23 targets agreed under a global biodiversity framework four years ago.
A key target is to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030. However, an interim report released ahead of the conference warned that implementation was falling behind schedule and needed to accelerate.
Funding remains a major obstacle, with conservation groups criticising the slow pace of progress.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged progress but warned that major gaps remained, saying many critical elements were still missing and that the “war on nature has not yet ended.”
German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider also said the international community remained far from achieving its goals.
“We are nowhere near where we need to be,” Schneider said.
