COP17 adopts two biodiversity agreements after marathon overtime talks in Yerevan

Nearly 200 nations adopted two biodiversity agreements at the COP17 conference in Yerevan on Friday, closing a two-week session that ran into overtime before COP17 president Hambardzum Matevosyan brought down the gavel.

The texts are designed to accelerate delivery of the landmark 2022 global biodiversity pact, under which countries committed to halting nature loss by 2030. Ahead of the summit, the UN had warned that most targets were falling short, including goals to protect 30 percent of Earth's land and oceans, tackle pollution and channel greater conservation finance to poorer countries.

Delegates wrangled over two central disputes. The first concerned reform of subsidies and incentives that drive activities harmful to nature, such as fossil fuels, intensive agriculture and overfishing. The second centred on new funding sources for conservation — a contested issue given strained public budgets. The world currently needs an estimated $700 billion more every year than it spends to restore degraded ecosystems and conserve forests, wetlands and other habitats.

The European Union led a push for wealthy emerging economies, including China, to contribute to global conservation financing — a contentious demand throughout negotiations. An earlier draft text had invited countries to consider new funding arrangements, signalling a compromise was forming.

The final versions of the approved documents were not made immediately available to the public. It was not immediately clear which of the proposed options for meeting the 2030 goal had been retained in the final text.