The conclusion of COP17 Armenia in Yerevan brought an important achievement: almost 50 negotiated decisions across scientific, technical and implementation-related areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
At the centre of these outcomes is the Yerevan Pathway - the collective response to the first global review of progress under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Yet COP17 was not simply a moment for celebrating agreements. The global review delivered a clear warning: the world remains off track to meet the Framework’s 23 targets by 2030. With only four years remaining, the success of COP17 will ultimately be determined not by the number of decisions adopted in Yerevan, but by what countries, institutions and society do next.
The Yerevan Pathway: a direction for the next four years
The Yerevan Pathway identifies areas where progress must accelerate, including:
- reforming subsidies and incentives that harm nature;
- increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries;
- integrating biodiversity into national budgets and economic decisions;
- strengthening implementation, monitoring, reporting and review; and
- expanding participation across government and society.
COP17 also adopted decisions on protected areas, forest biodiversity, marine and coastal ecosystems, sustainable wildlife management, invasive alien species, synthetic biology, biosafety and biodiversity mainstreaming.
Another significant outcome was the adoption of the Sevan Guidelines, which establish the operational rules for the new permanent subsidiary body on Article 8(j). This represents an important step towards strengthening the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in shaping global biodiversity policy and action.
The new emphasis placed on biodiversity education is equally important. Reversing biodiversity loss requires more than policies and targets: it requires people who understand the processes, possess the relevant knowledge and have the confidence and capacity to participate.
Finance remains a defining test
The outcomes of COP17 must be understood against the scale of the biodiversity finance challenge.
Goal D of the Global Biodiversity Framework recognises an annual financing gap of approximately US$700 billion. Target 18 calls for the reduction or reform of at least US$500 billion per year in incentives and subsidies harmful to biodiversity, while Target 19 aims to mobilise at least US$200 billion annually from domestic, international, public and private sources by 2030.
COP17 saw announcements of nearly US$2 billion in new biodiversity funding. These commitments are welcome, but they remain small compared with the scale of the overall gap.
Negotiations on resource mobilisation were among the most politically sensitive in Yerevan. Parties eventually reached a compromise, but fundamental questions concerning responsibility, predictability, access to finance and the future funding architecture remain. Some of these discussions will continue towards COP18.
This is one reason why scientific and technical cooperation matters so much. Finance alone cannot deliver implementation if countries and communities do not also have access to the knowledge, technologies, expertise, institutions and capacities needed to use resources effectively.
The science-policy interface is implementation infrastructure
COP17 identified gaps in finance, technology, data, knowledge and participation as continuing obstacles to implementation.
These are precisely the areas in which a strong science–policy interface can make a difference.
The science–policy interface is not simply the transfer of research findings to decision-makers. It is an ongoing process of identifying policy needs, bringing together different forms of knowledge, translating evidence into usable formats, strengthening capacities and creating trusted spaces in which scientists, policymakers, practitioners and rights holders can work together.
This is the mission at the heart of CO-OP4CBD.
Throughout COP17, the project worked with partners to make biodiversity knowledge more accessible, strengthen technical and scientific cooperation and support meaningful engagement with the processes of the Convention.
A shared European space for biodiversity knowledge
One of the examples of this cooperation was the EU Science for Biodiversity booth.
Organised and maintained by CO-OP4CBD, the BioAgora Project, the RESPIN project , Biodiversa+ and NetworkNature EU, the booth brought together a much wider community of EU-funded biodiversity projects throughout the two weeks of the conference.
It was more than an exhibition space. It became a working hub where projects could:
- present their research and practical resources;
- organise small meetings and discussions;
- connect with policymakers, negotiators and other initiatives;
- explore opportunities for cooperation; and
- communicate their results as part of a shared European science-for-biodiversity narrative.
Through presentations, thematic activities, meetings and informal exchanges, the booth showed the diversity of European biodiversity research while creating a common space around one central ambition: strengthening the science–policy interface together.
That shared presence matters. Individual projects can generate valuable evidence, but their collective impact becomes stronger when their knowledge is connected, communicated coherently and made available to the people responsible for policy and implementation.
Turning the science–policy interface into practice
CO-OP4CBD’s contribution was also reflected in a wide programme of side events and collaborative discussions across COP17.
These included conversations on strengthening the science-policy interface in Armenia, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus; improving technical and scientific cooperation; translating knowledge into negotiations; empowering knowledge holders to engage with international environmental processes; and developing rights-holder-responsive approaches to biodiversity data, monitoring and reporting.
The side event “Let’s Build Our Story Together” explored how the biodiversity community can communicate more effectively and develop a stronger shared narrative for action.
“Strengthening Science–Policy Interfaces and Technical & Scientific Cooperation for Biodiversity Action” examined the development of science–policy mechanisms and Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centres across Europe and other regions.
“Focus on the Briefs: Translating Knowledge into Negotiations” brought attention to a fundamental challenge: producing scientifically robust knowledge is not enough. Evidence must also be timely, understandable and relevant to the questions negotiators are addressing.
Other discussions focused on supporting experts, civil-society organisations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and young people in participating more meaningfully in biodiversity processes.
Together, these events demonstrated that the science–policy interface is not a single institution or product. It is an ecosystem of people, relationships, skills, tools and opportunities for dialogue.
Resources designed to outlast COP17
COP17 also provided an opportunity to present practical CO-OP4CBD results developed to support this ecosystem beyond the conference itself.
A practical guide for experts and knowledge holders
The UN CBD Toolkit for Experts and Knowledge Holders, developed by CO-OP4CBD and Biodiversa+, serves as a practical guide to the processes of the Convention.
It enables users to explore the CBD according to their existing level of experience - from those encountering the Convention for the first time to experts seeking more advanced guidance.
By making institutional processes easier to understand, the toolkit helps reduce one of the barriers to participation: knowing where, when and how scientific and other forms of knowledge can contribute.
An accessible online course
The CO-OP4CBD massive open online course, hosted on the InforMEA platform, offers structured and self-paced learning about the Convention, its processes and its implementation.
The course helps learners understand not only what the CBD is, but also how its bodies, negotiations and implementation mechanisms function.
This kind of accessible education is essential if the renewed emphasis on biodiversity learning agreed at COP17 is to translate into broader and more informed participation.
Capacity-building materials
Through its Training Corner, CO-OP4CBD provides materials developed through workshops, expert exchanges and capacity-building sessions.
These resources support researchers, practitioners, civil-society organisations and knowledge holders in understanding UN CBD processes and engaging with them more effectively. They help transform participation from a one-off invitation into a sustained capacity to contribute.
Technical briefs for negotiations and implementation
CO-OP4CBD’s technical briefs translate complex evidence into concise and policy-relevant knowledge on priority issues under the Convention.
The latest briefs address marine and coastal ecosystem restoration, polar ecosystems, digital sequence information and the Cali Fund, ecologically or biologically significant marine areas and the BBNJ Agreement, Indigenous and Traditional Territories and ICCAs, and the mainstreaming of biodiversity into business.
Developed through collaboration between experts and policy actors, the briefs connect scientific knowledge with the timing and needs of negotiations. They do not replace scientific assessments; they make relevant evidence easier to access, understand and use.
What comes after Yerevan?
COP17 demonstrated that multilateral agreement remains possible. It also revealed how difficult it is to turn ambition into practical, adequately financed and measurable action.
The Yerevan Pathway provides direction, but it cannot implement itself.
The next four years will require countries to translate global decisions into national policies, budgets, monitoring systems and tangible improvements for nature and people. This will demand stronger scientific and technical cooperation, sustained capacity development, inclusive participation and knowledge that is available in the right form at the right time.
CO-OP4CBD and its partners will continue contributing to that work - connecting experts and decision-makers, supporting the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centres, developing accessible resources and helping different knowledge holders participate in biodiversity governance.
COP17 has ended, but the story continues.
The task now is to build on the connections made in Yerevan, carry its decisions into implementation and ensure that science, policy and society work together with the urgency that the biodiversity crisis demands.
We will keep building our story together.
Written by CO-OP4CBD.
