The opening plenary session of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) took place in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on Monday.
Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, noted that the international community has made some progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, but the pace and scale of the measures being adopted remain insufficient to achieve the set goals.
According to Schomaker, the conference should promote the development of global biodiversity governance through 'accountability, coherence, and acceleration.' She emphasized that all parties must strengthen the alignment between national actions and global goals, expand the participation of indigenous peoples and local communities, women, youth, businesses, and financial institutions, and translate international commitments into real action.
At the plenary session, Armenian Minister of Environment Hambardzum Matevosyan was elected President of COP17 for a two-year term.
COP17 is held under the theme 'Taking Action for Nature' and will last until October 30. Earlier, on Thursday, the United Nations published a report in Yerevan on the state of biodiversity action, highlighting global progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal framework.