Cop17 biodiversity summit to confront funding gap for wildlife conservation

Wild Asian elephants in China’s Yunnan province, pictured in May 2021. Protecting threatened species is among the goals countries will review at the UN biodiversity summit in Armenia. AP - Hu Chao

Almost 200 countries will be in attendance at the United Nations Biodiversity Cop17, opening in Armenia on Monday, to take stock of faltering progress towards the UN’s 2030 nature targets. Wildlife populations are shrinking and protected areas are under threat from drilling and mining, while more money still goes into damaging ecosystems than protecting them.

Cop17 runs in the Armenian capital Yerevan until 30 October. At its core is the first global review of progress since the adoption of a landmark nature pact in 2022.