COP17 opening: "Halfway to 2030, Yerevan is our moment of accountability", says Antonio Guterres (UN)

"Four years ago, in Montréal, leaders agreed on a plan: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. But that was just the beginning, we need more action, more speed and more will. Halfway to 2030, Yerevan is our moment of accountability,” António Guterres, UN Secretary-General said, at the opening of the COP 17 leaders summit, on 16 October 2026.

Even if over half of parties to the Convention have set out their own national roadmaps for delivery, he stressed that progress is “uneven and far too slow : only 26% of terrestrial and 12% of marine ecosystems will be protected by 2030. This is well short of the promise made in Montréal to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030.”

He also pointed out that “major gaps remain in targets to economic systems, including those focused on reducing…