Guterres urges faster action on biodiversity at Armenia summit

UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Armenia from 15 to 17 October for the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP17, urging leaders to turn global nature-protection commitments into action.

Addressing the conference’s Leaders’ Summit in Yerevan on 16 October, Guterres called for stronger leadership from governments, financial institutions and wider society to help meet the target of protecting 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030. He said that while nearly 90 per cent of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity had set national biodiversity targets, major gaps remained in areas including finance, capacity and cooperation.

Guterres also highlighted shortcomings in targets related to economic systems, including efforts to reduce harmful incentives. The UN account said more than half of the parties had set out national road maps for delivering their targets, with many others nearing completion.

During the visit, he met Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They discussed UN-Armenia cooperation, biodiversity and COP17, as well as progress towards normalising relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and efforts to strengthen peace and security in the South Caucasus.

Guterres launched a State of Biodiversity report mapping progress since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted four years ago. He also met Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan, attended COP17’s opening ceremony and visited the TUMO Centre for Creative Technologies, which provides free education for young people aged 12 to 18.

He left Armenia early on 17 October. The account was published by the UN on 27 October.