UN biodiversity talks in Yerevan wrapped early Saturday with agreement on the key parts of an action plan — the “Yerevan Pathway” — after nearly two weeks of negotiation and hours past the scheduled close. Meeting president Hambardzum Matevosyan declared the session done: “And that's it. Perfect.”

Four years earlier the same countries signed the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with targets such as protecting 30% of land and seas by decade’s end. The UN says the world is on track for just one of roughly two dozen targets; at COP17, nations acknowledged they are falling behind.

There are pockets of progress: hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded land under protection; WWF recently praised recoveries of key species (elephants, green sea turtles, tigers). The main barrier remains money: in 2022 countries pledged $30bn for nature by decade’s end and a further $170bn from private sources — delivery lags as aid is redirected to defence and energy shocks.

In Yerevan more than $1bn (BBC) / nearly $2bn (UN/CBD) in new finance was announced, including GEF, the Species Recovery Alliance and private funds; half of the BBC figure was said to come from philanthropists including Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild. The Cali Fund for firms that profit from genetic material stayed nearly empty (about $10,000 at the meeting’s start versus multi-billion annual potential).

There was some movement on reforming nature-harmful subsidies, little on the Cali Fund. Scientific reports were slowed by a small group of countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia, reports said; France’s Monique Barbut criticised “attacks on science.” Climate COP31 is next.

Source: Global nature talks reach deal but money remains an issue (BBC News); confirmation: COP17: Nations chart ‘Yerevan Pathway’ to speed up action for nature (UN News)