Nearly 90% of countries adopt biodiversity targets, but most remain off track

Thousands of delegates are now gathering in Yerevan to discuss the future of life on Earth as we know it at the U.N.’s COP17 biodiversity summit. Countries have made considerable progress in developing national conservation plans under the biodiversity framework agreed to at COP15 in Montreal in 2022, but most remain well off pace to meet the overall goals set for 2030, according to an assessment published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity on Thursday.

The report finds that nearly 90% of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 196 parties have established national biodiversity targets, close to 60% have completed national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and more than 70% have submitted national reports. However, fewer than half of the national targets assessed by governments are on track. The U.S. is not a party to the treaty.

The framework set 23 targets aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. They include conserving 30% of the world’s land and seas, restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems, reducing pollution and invasive species, slowing species extinctions, reforming subsidies that damage nature, and mobilizing $200 billion a year for biodiversity.

Most countries have incorporated much of that agenda into national policy. At the time the report was prepared, 162 parties (83%) had established targets aligned with the global framework, covering an average of 22 of its 23 targets. That compares with about half of countries at the final review of the previous Aichi Biodiversity Targets in 2020, which were largely viewed as a failure.

Countries have been quicker to adopt targets on conservation and sustainable use than on consumption, harmful subsidies, finance, land and resource rights, participation, and the integration of biodiversity into economic policy. Marine, coastal, and inland water ecosystems also receive less attention than terrestrial ecosystems like forests.

Collectively, governments are behind on the headline 30-by-30 target. Protected and conserved areas now cover about 18.4% of terrestrial and inland water areas globally and 23.2% of marine and coastal areas under national jurisdiction. Coverage falls to about 10% when the entire ocean, including areas beyond national jurisdiction, is included. In January, the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction entered into force. The High Seas Treaty, as it is also known, is the world’s first legally binding framework designed to protect ocean life and manage resources in international waters.

Countries’ existing commitments would raise terrestrial and inland water coverage to roughly 27.5% by 2030 if fully implemented. Just over two-thirds of countries with quantitative targets have pledged to conserve at least 30% of their terrestrial and inland-water areas, while 62% of non-landlocked countries have done so for marine and coastal areas.

The 30% target also covers how those areas are managed, whether they are within traditional protected areas like national parks or not. Far fewer national plans address whether protected areas are well connected, equitably governed, effectively managed, or whether they recognize the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Restoration has advanced further than many other parts of the framework. Governments reported 193 million hectares under restoration. But fewer than one-fifth of parties have set national targets matching the global goal of restoring at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, freshwater, or marine ecosystems.

Subsidy reform, like other financial components of the framework, is further behind. Target 18 calls for governments to reduce subsidies and other incentives harmful to biodiversity by at least $500 billion a year by 2030. Only 27% of parties have national targets that address that reduction, and just 5% have set quantitative targets for cutting harmful incentives.

The available indicators show more negative trends than positive ones. The picture for threatened species is little better—they continue to face pressures from habitat loss and other human activities—and there are substantial gaps in monitoring genetic diversity and species recovery. A major challenge is that biodiversity policies are still often concentrated in environment ministries, even though many of the forces driving biodiversity loss lie in agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure, trade, finance, and other parts of government.

The report acknowledges that four years may be too short to detect broad changes in biodiversity itself. But the available evidence suggests countries are not moving fast enough to meet the 2030 targets. Governments will review that progress at COP17, with four years left to deliver on their commitments.

Citation:

• State of Biodiversity Action: Global Report on Collective Progress in the Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. ISBN 978-92-9225-788-0 (print); ISBN 978-92-9225-794-1 (online)

Cite this article

Rhett Ayers Butler (2026). Nearly 90% of countries adopt biodiversity targets, but most remain off track. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333071

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Rhett Butler Editor

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