Yerevan Declaration Calls for Faster Action to Halt Biodiversity Loss

Dragon Media News Desk

The Yerevan Declaration has called for stronger international cooperation and faster action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It was adopted on Friday at a biodiversity leaders’ summit in the Armenian capital.

The summit, held ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), brought together heads of state and government, international organisations, local communities and other stakeholders. Armenian Environment Minister and COP17 President-designate Hambardzum Matevosyan presented the declaration, titled “Taking Action for Nature.”

The declaration reaffirmed commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.

It said the first global report on the framework’s implementation showed that collective efforts and progress remained insufficient, making faster implementation urgent.

Leaders committed to strengthening national action across government and society, integrating biodiversity into public policy and economic sectors, and improving the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems.

The declaration also called for stronger monitoring, planning and reporting; better biodiversity data and knowledge systems; and science-based decision-making. It urged governments to mobilise adequate, predictable and accessible public and private funding, while expanding capacity-building, technology transfer and international partnerships to support developing countries, particularly least developed and small-island states.