What is the 'biodiversity' COP?
COP stands for 'Conference of the Parties', which are regular United Nations (UN) conferences on its different conventions (written legal agreements between countries and the UN).
The 'biodiversity' or 'nature' COP is for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, or CBD.
The latest CBD COP - COP17 - took place from 19th-30th October 2026 in Armenia.
The Wildlife Trusts were in Yerevan to shine a light on the progress, and the gaps, in the UK to date. on the critical role of local action for nature recovery in driving progress nationally and internationally - and to call for accelerated implementation across the board.
Nearly 200 countries gathered at the UN nature conference. In 2022 these countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), with 23 shared Targets to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
Four years on, COP17 marked the halfway point to 2030, and was the moment to review progress towards the Targets, take stock and negotiate a pathway forward.
Overall the message on progress at this halfway point is worrying. Whilst the UK is on track to meet just three of the 23 KM-GBF Targets, globally this number falls to just one.
Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
Route Map to Recovery - Fixing Nature in the UK
The Global Biodiversity Framework and what the UK needs to do to implement it
Catch up on the action from COP17
The Wildlife Trusts' at COP17
We were pleased to organise and take part in a number of events at COP17. Explore them below.
Reconnecting with our lost rivers
Keynote: Craig Bennett, OBE – CEO, The Wildlife Trusts, joined by panel experts on international and UK water policy, nature-based solutions delivery, and financing
Rivers are the lifeblood of communities, economies and ecosystems, supplying water, taming floods, home to myriad species and critical to our national security. As the world navigates a record breaking El Nino, and an intensifying cycle of extreme weather – the focus on water is sharper than ever.
But life in freshwater is in crisis globally. Wetland extent has diminished by a staggering 70-90% compared to 1700 and vertebrate populations have collapsed by 84% in less than 60 years. In the UK, centuries of an extractive relationship with river catchments and intensifying pollution, has brought our river systems to their knees.
This event laid out a vision for recovery of and reconnection with our rivers – their importance as critical infrastructure for resilience, the case for water system reform, and the economic and partnership model underpinning this transformation. It drew on visionary global examples and multistakeholder perspectives; and interrogated the pathway to impact at pace.
From Global Goals to National Law: UK Approaches to Delivering Biodiversity Targets
Co-hosts: RSPB, UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government
Panellists: Senior representatives from UK Governments, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Global Youth Biodiversity Network UK (GYBN UK), hosted by Katie-Jo Luxton and Craig Bennett, OBE
Translation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets into domestic legislation is a vital step towards ensuring their delivery. This event explored experiences of countries that have already begun this translation, to turn global goals to national law.
Across the UK, governments have taken progressive steps towards setting environment targets into law, bringing much-needed legal backing to the UK's global commitments under the CBD. This event explored the steps that have been taken in England, Scotland and Wales to establish legally binding targets frameworks, each at different stages of maturity, explored the lessons learned, and asked what's needed next.
It involved experts from UK governments, parliamentarians, and civil society, who provided valuable insights for other countries looking to ground the KMGBF targets in legislation to drive action. The event was of direct relevance to the COP17 item on ‘engagement with subnational governments, cities and other local authorities to enhance the implementation of the KMGBF’.
Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the local level
This event shared stories and ideas of how young people and local communities are delivering the KM-GBF on the ground. Representing The Wildlife Trusts' on the panel was Holly Gray from Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Side events
- From Islands to Impact: What can the world learn from Island Leadership on Target 3?
- UN CBD Press Conference
- Nurturing Tomorrow: Global Action for Children and Nature
- Strengthening Small Islands biodiversity decision-making
- From Curitiba to Yerevan: 20 years of the island biodiversity programme of work
- How to Integrate Initiatives to Develop Knowledge Systems
The Global Biodiversity Framework
At COP15 in 2022, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted. It followed years of global negotiations and supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It aims to set the world on track to living in harmony with nature by 2050.
Among the Framework’s key elements are four goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030.
Goals for 2050
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has four goals for 2050:
- Protect and restore
- Prosper with nature
- Share benefits equally
- Invest and collaborate
Targets for 2030
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has 23 targets to be completed by 2030.
- Plan and manage all areas to reduce biodiversity loss
- Restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems
- Conserve 30% of land, waters and seas
- Halt species extinction, protect genetic diversity and manage human-wildlife conflicts
- Ensure sustainable, safe and legal havesting and trade of wild species
- Reduce the introduction of invasive alien species by 50% and minimise their impact
- Reduce pollution to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity
- Minimise the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and build resilience
- Manage wild species sustainably to benefit people
- Enhance biodiversity and sustainability in agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry
- Restore, maintain and enhance nature's contribution to people
- Enhance green spaces and urban planning for human well-being and biodiversity
- Increase the sharing of benefits from genetic resources, digital sequence information and traditional knowledge
- Integration biodiversity in decision-making at every level
- Businesses assess, disclose and reduce biodiversity-related risks and negative impacts
- Enable sustainable consumption choices to reduce waste and overconsumption
- Strengthen biosafety and distribute the benefits of biotechnology
- Reduce harmful incentives by at least $500 billion per year, and scale up positive incentives for biodiversity
- Mobilise $200 billion per year for biodiversity from all sources, including $30 billion through international finance
- Strengthen capacity-building, technology transfer, and scientific and technical cooperation for biodiversity
- Ensure that knowledge is available and accessible to guide biodiversity action
- Ensure participation in decision-making and access to justice and information related to biodiversity for all
- Ensure gender equality and a gender-responsive approach for biodiversity action
Further reading
