COP17 nature talks in Yerevan end first week amid finance deadlock

The seventeenth UN biodiversity conference, COP17, entered its final phase in Yerevan, Armenia, after running from October 19 to 30, 2026. The summit’s president and Armenian environment minister, Hambardzum Matevosyan, assessed the first week on Monday, October 26.

Matevosyan said multilateral cooperation had produced important decisions on biosecurity, invasive alien species, gender, education, and information exchange. He announced total financial mobilization of more than USD 1.8 billion for decisive biodiversity action.

The pledges included USD 500 million for species recovery and USD 300 million from the Value Nature Fund. Forty percent of the mobilized resources would flow through the Global Environment Facility.

The Netherlands separately pledged up to USD 500 million over the next decade for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a public-private fund launched by Brazil at COP30 in Belem with political backing from 66 countries and the European Union.

Meanwhile, negotiations on new funding sources stalled over an EU proposal to expand the government donor list to include emerging economies such as China and Gulf states. Ireland’s nature minister Christopher O’Sullivan, whose country holds the EU presidency, said member states feel strongly about the position.

Arab countries rejected any attempt to expand the donor list or reclassify countries’ development status at the opening plenary. A UN assessment showed governments are off track to meet nearly all 2030 targets under the Global Biodiversity Framework.