COP17 opens in Armenia for global progress review

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan speaks at the opening ceremony of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia, Oct. 18, 2026. The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) opened on Sunday in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, with countries set to conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). (Xinhua/Chen Junfeng)

YEREVAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) opened on Sunday in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, with countries set to conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared the conference open, calling for countries to translate their commitments into concrete actions and measurable results as the 2030 deadline for the framework's targets approaches.

Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, expressed hope that COP17 would demonstrate the multilateralism works and that the international community can fulfill its commitments.

She said the assessment of the KMGBF and countries' national reports would help identify implementation gaps and guide efforts to address them.

Adopted in 2022, the KMGBF aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, with a vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. The global review will assess progress, identify gaps and help determine priority actions to accelerate implementation.

COP17 will run from Oct. 19 to 30 under the theme "Taking Action for Nature."

Photo taken on Oct. 18, 2026 shows the opening ceremony of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia. The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) opened on Sunday in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, with countries set to conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). (Xinhua/Chen Junfeng)

Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia, Oct. 18, 2026. The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) opened on Sunday in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, with countries set to conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). (Xinhua/Chen Junfeng)