Fewer than half of the national targets countries set to protect plants, animals and ecosystems are on track, the United Nations said in a report released as governments gathered in Yerevan, Armenia, for the COP17 biodiversity conference.
The 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework committed nearly 200 countries to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. Its headline goal is to protect at least 30% of land, inland waters, coasts and oceans. The framework also covers restoring degraded land, cutting pesticide risk and reforming subsidies that harm nature.
The 30% goal is far off
Even if every current commitment is met, only 26% of land and 12% of the ocean would be protected by the deadline, the report found. Money, skills, cooperation and data are all lagging, and so are the economic incentives that would reward protecting nature instead of clearing it.
"This bad news means that the war on nature has not yet ended," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the launch.
Plans without funding
Analysis by Carbon Brief shows 113 of 196 parties have submitted updated national biodiversity plans, up from 55 a year ago. Four of the most species-rich countries, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South Africa and the United States, have not filed new plans. The United States is the only UN member that is not a party to the convention.
Delegates in Yerevan are working on how to check progress every few years and how to pay for it. Developing countries argue that the targets cannot be met without predictable funding, while donor governments point to domestic budget pressure.
Developed countries have also fallen short of pledges to finance nature protection in poorer countries, a dispute that has stalled earlier summits and is back on the table in Yerevan.
Why the deadline matters
Ecosystems supply clean water, pollination and food production, and their loss is felt first by communities with the least capacity to adapt. Two weeks of talks will test whether governments can turn targets into budgets, or whether 2030 arrives the way earlier deadlines did.