"Identifying needs, addressing gaps and correcting the trajectory before it is too late." Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenia's Environment Minister, commented with these words on the opening of the seventeenth United Nations World Conference on Biodiversity (Cop17), hosted by the Asian country in its capital Yerevan. Two weeks of work to accelerate the efforts of nations around the world in defence of a heritage that is simply indispensable for life on Earth: the flora and fauna of the entire planet, at a time when one million animal and plant species risk extinction in the coming decades, as recalled by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The goal of Cop17: implementing the agreement reached at Cop15 in Kunming-Montreal

The agenda of the nations gathering from today, Monday 19 October, includes thirty items, aimed at focusing negotiators' attention on specific issues. The Armenian presidency's intention is indeed to avoid the diplomatic catastrophe that occurred at the previous Cop16 held in Cali, Colombia, in 2024, which ended with such deep divisions that a supplementary conference was required (subsequently held in February of the following year in Rome, at the headquarters of the Fao).

Only four years remain to meet the targets set by the international community through the Global framework adopted at the close of Cop15 in Kunming-Montreal in 2022. These include the commitment to designate 30 per cent of the planet as protected area, while at the same time safeguarding indigenous peoples. The "peace pact with nature", as the Global framework had been dubbed, also calls for the restoration of 30 per cent of degraded land, a reduction of subsidies harmful to biodiversity by 500 billion dollars per year, and an increase of those that protect it by 300 billion.

An opportunity to reinvigorate United Nations multilateralism

At stake is also the very effectiveness of the Cops themselves, just as is the case with those on climate and desertification, which for years have suffered above all from a lack of adequate political will to sustain the necessary environmental battles. Delegations will therefore need to try to "reach agreement by bridging divides" not only on biodiversity protection but also on "the sustainable use of biological resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the exploitation of genetic resources", as highlighted by the Armenian agency Armenpress.

Cop17 is particularly significant, notes the organisation Carbon Brief, "precisely because it comes at the halfway point in the implementation of the Global framework." As things stand, 22 of the 23 targets adopted in 2022 risk not being met "unless the world rapidly accelerates", as indicated by the United Nations themselves in a note on progress made under the Kunming-Montreal agreement.

All eyes on the United States, following the dismantling of the Usaid agency

The stance of certain major nations will need to be watched closely, with the United States at the forefront. The Washington administration had embraced a series of initiatives stemming from the Global framework, but the projects were subsequently suspended following the dismantling of the Agency for International Development Usaid ordered by the current administration led by Donald Trump.

The risk, as highlighted by The Guardian, is "that Cop17 in Armenia will crystallise the sum of the disasters of the past four years, which governments should instead be remedying." The hope is that the two weeks of negotiations in Yerevan will defy low expectations and provide fresh impetus for global action on biodiversity.