Taking Action for Nature: What the World Must Deliver in Yerevan

SLOVENIA, October 28 - When governments gather in Yerevan from 19 to 30 October for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, they will face a simple but hard question: are we keeping the promises we made?

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework set a roadmap to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and put nature on a path to recovery. COP17 is the first time that countries will review collective progress against it. Its theme, “Taking Action for Nature,” signals a conference that aims at implementation rather than new declarations.

Our six countries span Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands, Nordic highlands, Alpine and tropical forests, mountains, mangroves and coral seas, and one of the world's most densely populated tropical cities. We share a conviction that clean, healthy and sustainable ecosystems underpin development, stability, respect for human rights and peace, and that foreign policy must treat biodiversity, climate, water and oceans as one agenda.

What we expect from Yerevan

An honest review. The global review must state clearly where we stand, based on science and transparent national reporting. Its purpose is not to point fingers but to demonstrate where support is most needed and where acceleration is possible.

Finance that matches the task. Implementation needs financing from all sources, accessible to the countries that need it most. We expect progress on the effective operationalization of the Cali Fund, so that benefits from digital sequence information are shared fairly, recognizing the complementary roles of public and private finance, and scaling up investment to complement public funding.

Accountability that works. Targets without monitoring remain aspirations. Stronger national reporting, clearer indicators and updated biodiversity strategies will allow the framework to be judged by results on land and at sea.

Coherence across the Rio Conventions. Biodiversity underpins healthy ecosystems, human well-being and resilient societies. Similarly, biodiversity loss, climate change and desertification reinforce one another. Nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches, recognised by all three conventions, can deliver for nature, climate and people together, provided they complement emission cuts, not replace them.

Inclusion and rights. Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities are rights-holders and partners whose knowledge and leadership determine whether conservation endures. We remain committed to the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

What we bring

Cooperation, science and shared know-how can move faster than any country alone. Each of us arrives in Yerevan with experience to share and lessons to learn:

• Cabo Verde: hosts one of the world’s largest loggerhead turtle nesting populations, which community-led patrols and tougher anti-poaching law have helped to recover.
• Costa Rica: used payments for ecosystem services to help lift forest cover from about a quarter of its territory in the 1980s and 1990s to more than half.
• Iceland: has restored eroded land for over a century and now shares that expertise through a land restoration training programme for developing countries.
• Singapore: is planting a million more trees by 2030 and adding at least 200 hectares of nature parks under its City in Nature vision.
• With a growing 61% total forest cover and 40% of its territory under nature conservation, Slovenia maintains one of the highest protected shares globally.
• United Arab Emirates: is working toward planting 100 million mangroves by 2030, and has had nine globally significant Key Biodiversity Areas recognised, including the Arabian Oryx Protected Area, home to the world's largest population of the species, and marine sites hosting the world's second-largest dugong population.

The test ahead

Success in Yerevan will be measured by whether, in the subsequent years, more land and sea are effectively protected and restored, more finance is reaching those who need it, and more people see themselves as part of the solution.

The framework exists. What remains is the political will to act. Conserving biodiversity is not achieved by rules alone; it is achieved through cooperation, expertise, technological solutions and the capacity to act. We go to Yerevan ready to work with all Parties toward that positive outcome.

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