Armenia’s COP17 presidency launched three linked efforts in Yerevan on October 26, aiming to help countries put existing biodiversity commitments into practice.
Armenia’s presidency of COP17, the biodiversity conference, launched an initiative in Yerevan on October 26 to support reform of subsidies that harm biodiversity—the variety of living things—and expand incentives for nature conservation. The launch established a voluntary route for cooperation, rather than adopting changes to national subsidies.
The initiative follows the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Its Target 18 calls for identifying and eliminating, phasing out or reforming harmful incentives, including subsidies, and reducing them by at least $500 billion a year by 2030, starting with the most harmful. It also calls for expanding incentives that support conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The $500 billion figure is an existing global reduction target, not a funding pledge made at the Yerevan launch.
Armenia’s environment minister and COP17 president, Hambardzum Matevosyan, presented the initiative at the launch, Armenpress said. The three components are:
Environment official Voskehat Grigoryan says the Global OECM Action Hub will pool expertise to help countries apply existing conservation criteria outside protected areas.
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Matevosyan said reform is complex and sensitive because incentives are tied to national economic and social priorities and can affect sectors and communities differently. The initiative is designed to bring together ministries responsible for finance, agriculture, economy and development.
Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said some subsidies undermine the natural foundations of the sectors they are meant to support. She framed reform as a question of what subsidies achieve, not whether subsidies should exist, and said environment ministries cannot make the necessary changes alone.
Matevosyan invited countries to back the Yerevan Call and consider joining Friends of Target 18, with the platform intended to carry cooperation beyond COP17.
Armenia’s Environment Ministry says the countries have succeeded Colombia and Germany in leading a partnership that helps countries put national biodiversity plans into practice.
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Environment Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan says the Yerevan initiative aims to bring mountain countries together to put conservation into national plans and budgets.
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