In 2022 nearly 200 countries gathered in Montreal, Canada, to reset global ambition for nature. These countries agreed a new Global Biodiversity Framework, including 23 shared targets to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. This marked their commitment to turn the tide on the loss of biodiversity, and to rebuild the natural infrastructure on which their communities and their economies depend.  

The targets are diverse and interconnected, including:  

• protecting and effectively conserving 30% of our land and seas for nature 

• restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems 

•  making our food systems nature-friendly and resilient 

• maximising the benefits of nature to people and climate 

• ensuring all parts of society have a say, and 

• transforming how we use finance – to close the funding gap for nature, and build a more nature-positive economy. 

Four years on – and halfway to 2030 - these countries are reconvening at the UN biodiversity conference (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia, to take stock of progress and to chart the way forward. A first global review of progress towards the 23 targets has been completed, and the findings are clear. We are not on track. 

Global targets can feel abstract. They have been made and missed before. What is the urgency now, and why does it really matter in the UK and around the world?  

When nature thrives, so do we.

Healthy ecosystems and access to nature are essential for public health, climate resilience, economic prosperity and national security, while nature and access to green and blue spaces is a glue that unites communities.   

However, whilst we are nation of nature lovers, the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. The crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are linked and accelerating, and as winter storms and record-smashing summer heat have demonstrated this year, we are increasingly exposed to their impacts.  

Drought, extreme heat and flooding are exposing the poor condition of our ecosystems - and reducing their ability to provide essential services such as clean water, flood protection and carbon storage. Our wildlife is affected, and so are our communities – with the most vulnerable, the most at risk. 

The UK is not alone in facing these challenges. Our cups of coffee, our tea and chocolate, our climate, the swifts and swallows in our green spaces - all connect us with countries facing their own challenges. Many of these have developing economies and need support to effectively protect ecosystems that we also rely on in the UK.   

This is precisely why global targets are needed, and why cooperation across borders and across issues benefits us all. Complex geopolitics are not making the task of cooperation easier. But the need – and the significant opportunities - of accelerating action are greater than ever. Nature is a necessity, and global targets are only met when implementation takes place locally, at scale.  

The Wildlife Trusts will be at CBD COP17. With the UK currently on track to meet just three of the 23 Global Biodiversity Framework targets, the Wildlife Trusts’ delegation will be working to hold the UK governments to account for their commitment to the targets and advocating for a step change in pace of action globally.  

At CBD COP17 we want to see: 

• A strong response to the global review of progress. There must be recognition that the costs of delay are rising and COP17 must be the acceleration moment, with political commitments to speed-up delivery across all targets; 
• New and significant progress to close the finance gap for nature recovery – and redirect harmful finance and incentives that degrade nature loss towards investments and activities that restore it; 
• Increased cooperation and simplified processes to tackle nature loss and climate change effectively, together – across the relevant UN conventions, and with support to governments to achieve this domestically; 
• Strong focus on the need for the whole of government and society for this to succeed, including finance, planning, health and energy departments; sub-national governments, communities and businesses. Nature is a necessity for all – we need to act and make decisions that reflect that. 

At its heart, we call on the UK Governments to recognise nature as critical national infrastructure and prioritise it accordingly. Our natural ecosystems underpin all sectors of our economy, the well-being of our communities, and our resilience in a changing climate. 

As a highly nature-depleted nation, we must both protect and effectively conserve what we have left. And involve the whole of society – our farmers, our communities, our businesses – in bringing back the wetlands that sustain our water supplies and stem the floods; the soils that grow our food; and all the habitats of our iconic and treasured species. 

We’ll soon have them on our bank notes – and we need to keep them out there in the real world!

More about The Wildlife Trusts' plans at COP17

Read Nature Without Borders, our International Framework