A proposed review of global progress toward 2030 biodiversity goals remained unresolved at COP17 Friday, pushing delegates to extend negotiations and move a planned plenary to the evening, AFP reported.
The review is intended to help governments accelerate progress, but they had not settled its terms. A pact adopted by nearly 200 governments in 2022 set goals for 2030, including protecting 30% of the world’s land and oceans, tackling pollution and increasing conservation funding for poorer countries. Most goals are falling short, AFP reported. The debate continues issues covered in EconoTimes’ earlier report on the COP17 funding and subsidy dispute.
The estimated conservation funding gap is $700 billion a year beyond current spending, covering ecosystem recovery, protection for endangered species and habitat conservation, AFP reported. Governments are debating how to raise that money as energy pressures and fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East weigh on public budgets. The European Union has urged wealthy emerging economies, including China, to contribute to global conservation efforts, a contentious proposal at the summit, AFP reported.
The Cali Fund is one channel intended to direct a share of corporate proceeds linked to the use of genetic data from plants and other organisms toward conservation in developing countries. It began in early 2025 with an annual fundraising target of $1 billion; about $10,000 has come in so far, AFP reported.
A separate disagreement concerns subsidies and other incentives that support activities harmful to nature, including fossil fuel use, intensive agriculture and overfishing, AFP reported.
French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut played down the prospect of a major breakthrough at COP17. She said discussions about widening the pool of conservation donors had advanced enough to continue, AFP reported.
The funding dispute has a recent precedent. Negotiations over conservation finance at the 2024 biodiversity summit in Colombia ran beyond schedule without an agreement. When talks resumed in Rome in early 2025, countries reached a deal, AFP reported. Delegates were also expected to choose Friday between Panama and Ecuador to host the next biodiversity summit in 2028, AFP reported.
