The Yerevan Pathway was agreed as the United Nations (UN) Biodiversity Conference, COP17, concluded in Armenia.
The plan identifies priorities for the remaining four years of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which contains 23 targets aimed at halting and reversing nature loss. “We cannot protect nature while continuing to finance its destruction,” Convention on Biological Diversity Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker said.
The Pathway calls on governments to reform subsidies and other incentives that damage nature while increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries.
National budgets and wider economic decisions should be aligned with biodiversity targets, while stronger monitoring and reporting systems are required to measure implementation. “Over these two weeks, we have demonstrated that differences can be bridged, commitments can become decisions and cooperation can deliver,” COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan said.
Countries adopted nearly 50 decisions covering protected areas, forests, wildlife management, invasive alien species, marine and coastal biodiversity and synthetic biology.
Delegates also approved the Sevan Guidelines, which establish operating rules for a permanent body intended to strengthen the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in global biodiversity policy.
Nearly $2 billion in new biodiversity funding was announced during the Conference.
The total includes $560 million through the latest replenishment of the Global Environment Facility and $500 million from the Species Recovery Alliance.
Another $330 million will go to the Value Nature Fund, which seeks to mobilise private investment for nature protection.
The Asian Development Bank also launched a biodiversity bond and investment incubator, while countries agreed on new indicators for monitoring progress and strengthening accountability. “In Yerevan, we saw environmental multilateralism prevail once again,” UN Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said.
“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.”
COP18 will be held in Ecuador, leaving two years to achieve the global targets. “Ultimately, the test is not what governments agreed in Yerevan, but what they change when they return home,” Schomaker said.
-UN/ChannelAfrica–
