Governments at the United Nations (U.N.) biodiversity summit in Armenia faced a possible extension Friday as disputes over conservation funding and harmful subsidies stalled steps toward 2030 nature targets, AFP reported.
The world needs an estimated $700 billion more each year than current spending to restore ecosystems, protect species and conserve habitats, AFP reported. The European Union has pressed wealthy emerging economies, including China, to contribute to international conservation, but negotiations on that proposal have stalled. The report said an energy crisis and fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East were adding pressure to public budgets.
One unresolved issue is how to increase returns from the Cali Fund, a U.N. mechanism intended to direct some of the value generated by corporate use of genetic information from plants and other organisms toward conservation. It began in early 2025 with an annual target of $1 billion; AFP said it had drawn roughly $10,000 in contributions so far.
Negotiators remain split over subsidy reform. Governments have made limited headway on an existing pledge to shrink public outlays that support activities damaging to nature, including fossil fuel use, AFP reported.
A biodiversity agreement adopted by nearly 200 governments in 2022 set goals for 2030, including protecting 30% of land and oceans and increasing conservation finance for poorer countries. AFP reported that most goals have fallen short. A U.N. report released during COP17 said restoration must triple to meet the 2030 target, as EconoTimes' earlier coverage of the restoration target described.
About 70 government ministers joined the talks this week, AFP reported. Guido Broekhoven of WWF International, an observer of the negotiations, said the summit presidency wanted to reach a conclusion soon and warned that “there is always a risk” of lowering ambition.
The dispute recalls the 2024 biodiversity meeting in Colombia, where talks on conservation finance ran beyond schedule and ended without agreement, AFP reported. Negotiations resumed in Rome in early 2025 and produced an agreement. COP17 was expected to choose Friday between Panama and Ecuador as host of the next summit in 2028, AFP reported.