Daily Junction.mobi portal<p>In Yerevan, discussions focused on how it should work: who leads it, and who chooses the representatives. Campaigners warned that governments were deciding how Indigenous peoples should be represented instead of letting them decide for themselves. In the 12-hour-long final plenary, the body’s rules of operation were agreed, but as an advisory body, its influence will depend on whether governments listen. </p>
<p>Women’s rights were another focus. The <a href="https://www.cbd.int/global-report/global-report-2026-full.pdf">global progress review</a> found that only about a quarter of countries’ national targets address women’s land rights or access, leaving women with little power in conservation decisions. The Yerevan summit <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/06db/bdb5/5bedbd0a66a87878d8eb8bf1/cop-17-l-11-en.pdf">encouraged</a> governments to embed gender equity into national biodiversity strategies and data collection.</p>
<h2>Halfway and behind</h2>
<p>Finance, DSI and Indigenous rights may have been separate items on the agenda, but they raise the same questions: who pays to protect nature, who gets to decide, and who benefits? </p>
<p>The agreed <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2026/pr-2026-10-31-cop17-en.pdf">Yerevan Pathway</a> urges countries to take faster action on priorities including cutting subsidies that harm nature, providing financial and technical support to developing countries, and aligning national budgets with biodiversity goals. But it leans heavily on commitments already made. </p>
<p>Outside the main negotiations in Yerevan, Indigenous groups, campaigners and non-governmental organisations showcased their work protecting and restoring nature in spite of limited funding. The tension between biodiversity targets and the extractive industries was also visible in <a href="https://arminfo.info/full_news.php?id=105074&lang=3">protests</a> against a controversial gold mine, which recently began production in south-eastern Armenia.</p>
<p>Governments now need to back their commitments with money that reaches the people doing the work, an end to economic incentives that drive nature loss, and a meaningful say for Indigenous people and local communities.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/295028/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gabriella-santini-1543298">Gabriella Santini</a>, Post-doctoral Researcher in Anthropology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/ucl-1885">UCL</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emily-woodhouse-1214392">Emily Woodhouse</a>, Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Environmental Anthropology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/ucl-1885">UCL</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/simon-chin-yee-1394887">Simon Chin-Yee</a>, Lecturer in International Development, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/ucl-1885">UCL</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-promised-to-halt-biodiversity-loss-by-2030-now-it-needs-to-turn-pledges-into-action-295028">original article</a>.</p> </div>