There are calls for greater focus on the world’s biodiversity as the United Nations warned efforts to halt the rate of loss are faltering.

The warning came after nearly three weeks of negotiations  at the 2026 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. It comes before the vital meeting of the COP17 for Biodiversity, scheduled for Yerevan, in October.

Speaking at the end of the meetings, Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), said that “I think that we can all leave Nairobi with a sense of satisfaction at what we have accomplished here, but the task awaiting us in Yerevan in nine weeks will take all the stamina and determination that Parties can summon,”

“When Parties convene in October for COP 17 and the meetings of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, we will need strong agreement on pathways for addressing the gaps identified in the global report so that we can stay on track to achieve the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.” She continued: “It is true that the progress is being made across all targets. However, implementation is not yet happening at the pace and scale needed to achieve the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

“Fewer than half of aligned national targets assessed by Parties are currently on track, with some of the largest gaps in mobilising biodiversity finance, reforming harmful subsidies, addressing business impacts and dependencies, and shifting toward sustainable consumption.”

In Kenya delegates found widespread consensus on issues surrounding sustainable wildlife management and the management of protected areas, synthetic biology and marine and coastal biodiversity conservation, as well as other underpinnings of the collective endeavour to halt and reverse biodiversity loss contained in the Convention and its Protocols.

Highlights included recommendations on the first update of the Convention’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas since its adoption in 2004, global voluntary guidance for sustainable wildlife management, and a thematic action plan to strengthen capacity-building, technology access, and knowledge-sharing in synthetic biology.

COP 17 will discuss pathways towards accelerating the rate of progress.

“While evidence contained in the global report shows promising efforts on conservation targets, others which pertain to the means of implementation have been sluggish, such as resource mobilisation, the repurposing of harmful subsidies or inclusive governance,” the CDB explained. “With the conclusion of the two meetings in Nairobi, Parties achieved significant progress in acknowledging the current state of biodiversity action and the uneven progress achieved.

“Differences still remain, however, in how to accelerate action towards achieving the 2030 targets.”