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ClimateQuiet 6d · day 12

COP17 biodiversity summit ends with weak deals; reformers call for majority voting

Nations agree on measures to protect nature but fall short of targets, sparking calls to overhaul the consensus-based negotiation process.

newest coverage 6d agosummary written 8d ago39 pieces51 likes & upvotes Google NewsNewswiresMastodonBluesky

What to know

  • COP17 concluded Saturday with nations agreeing to increase biodiversity finance to $30bn/year and ramp up action, but fell short on contentious issues like harmful subsidies reform.
  • Governments are on track to continue a 34-year record of never meeting biodiversity targets; the UK is set to meet only 3 of 23 current goals.
  • Critics argue the consensus-based decision-making system is 'designed to fail,' allowing any single nation to block progress; Panama's environment minister called for majority-vote reform.
  • Key decisions on a digital biodiversity fund were postponed to 2028, stalling a mechanism meant to generate £1bn/year for conservation.

The dispute Whether incremental agreements at COP17 constitute meaningful progress toward 2030 biodiversity targets or merely cosmetic measures that mask systemic failure. · positions read across 4 posts and comments

most voices

The COP process is fundamentally broken and must shift from consensus to majority voting to achieve meaningful action.

  • “A lot of what's going on out here at the Cop is just a bunch of baloney and beautiful speeches and BS…Cops have been designed to fail.”

    Juan Carlos Navarro · The Guardian ↗
some voices

The agreements represent genuine progress despite weaknesses, moving the biodiversity agenda forward on key issues.

  • “This represents a positive outcome ... and though there are weaknesses, particularly on harmful subsidies, it does represent a step forward.”

    Guido Broekhoven · Channel News Asia ↗

“This represents a positive outcome ... and though there are weaknesses, particularly on harmful subsidies, it does represent a step forward.”

Guido Broekhoven, WWF International representative · Channel News Asia ↗

Hambardzum Matevosyan COP17 presidentMonique BarbutMonique Barbut French Ecological Transition MinisterJuan Carlos Navarro Panama's environment ministerGuido Broekhoven WWF International representative

COP17 biodiversity summit ends with weak deals; reformers call for majority voting
Guardian Environment

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articles

Peak 14 pieces in 3h at Oct 30, 8 PM; 39 pieces over 12 days (32 articles · 7 posts) Oct 27, 8 AM — 2 pieces · 2 articles — Google News 2Oct 27, 11 AM — quietOct 27, 2 PM — quietOct 27, 5 PM — quietOct 27, 8 PM — quietOct 27, 11 PM — quietOct 28, 2 AM — quietOct 28, 5 AM — quietOct 28, 8 AM — quietOct 28, 11 AM — quietOct 28, 2 PM — quietOct 28, 5 PM — quietOct 28, 8 PM — quietOct 28, 11 PM — quietOct 29, 2 AM — quietOct 29, 5 AM — quietOct 29, 8 AM — quietOct 29, 11 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Oct 29, 2 PM — quietOct 29, 5 PM — quietOct 29, 8 PM — quietOct 29, 11 PM — quietOct 30, 2 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Oct 30, 5 AM — quietOct 30, 8 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Oct 30, 11 AM — quietOct 30, 2 PM — quietOct 30, 5 PM — quietOct 30, 8 PM — 14 pieces · 13 articles · 1 post — Google News 12, Newswires 1, Bluesky 1Oct 30, 11 PM — quietOct 31, 2 AM — 3 pieces · 3 articles — Newswires 2, Mastodon 1Oct 31, 5 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Bluesky 1, Newswires 1Oct 31, 8 AM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Google News 1, Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Oct 31, 11 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Oct 31, 2 PM — 6 pieces · 6 articles — Google News 3, Newswires 3Oct 31, 5 PM — quietOct 31, 8 PM — quietOct 31, 11 PM — quietNov 1, 1 AM — quietNov 1, 4 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Nov 1, 7 AM — quietNov 1, 10 AM — quietNov 1, 1 PM — quietNov 1, 4 PM — quietNov 1, 7 PM — quietNov 1, 10 PM — quietNov 2, 1 AM — quietNov 2, 4 AM — 3 pieces · 1 article · 2 posts — Mastodon 2, Newswires 1Nov 2, 7 AM — quietNov 2, 10 AM — quietNov 2, 1 PM — quietNov 2, 4 PM — quietNov 2, 7 PM — quietNov 2, 10 PM — quietNov 3, 1 AM — quietNov 3, 4 AM — quietNov 3, 7 AM — quietNov 3, 10 AM — quietNov 3, 1 PM — quietNov 3, 4 PM — quietNov 3, 7 PM — quietNov 3, 10 PM — quietNov 4, 1 AM — quietNov 4, 4 AM — quietNov 4, 7 AM — quietNov 4, 10 AM — quietNov 4, 1 PM — quietNov 4, 4 PM — quietNov 4, 7 PM — quietNov 4, 10 PM — quietNov 5, 1 AM — quietNov 5, 4 AM — quietNov 5, 7 AM — quietNov 5, 10 AM — quietNov 5, 1 PM — quietNov 5, 4 PM — quietNov 5, 7 PM — quietNov 5, 10 PM — quietNov 6, 1 AM — quietNov 6, 4 AM — quietNov 6, 7 AM — quietNov 6, 10 AM — quietNov 6, 1 PM — quietNov 6, 4 PM — quietNov 6, 7 PM — quietNov 6, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietToday, 1 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quietToday, 7 AM — quietToday, 10 AM — quiet 1–2
Oct 28Oct 29Oct 30Oct 31Nov 1Nov 2Nov 3Nov 4Nov 5Nov 6now · 1:09 PM ET
  1. 1

    Key funding mechanism postponed; digital biodiversity fund stalls

    Decisions on a fund to mobilize resources from firms profiting from digital forms of biodiversity—such as pharmaceutical companies—were postponed to the next summit in Ecuador in two years. The fund had been hoped to generate £1bn a year for nature conservation, but has raised just over $10,000 so far.

    “A lot of what's going on out here at the Cop is just a bunch of baloney and beautiful speeches and BS.”
    — Juan Carlos Navarro, Panama's environment minister · source
    1. 6 outlets Countries reach COP17 deal to speed up biodiversity action, but money still short

      first by Japan Today, 7d ago · also Investing.com News, Globe and Mail, Straits Times, Reuters, U.S. News & World Report

    • jeromeollier.bsky.social

      'Bunch of baloney': calls grow for COP summit reforms as latest event on track to fail targets - @pgreenfielduk.bsky.social @theguardian.com

      jeromeollier.bsky.socialBluesky8d ago1▲view on Bluesky ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 4 posts in this stretch
    • dyckron@cosocial.ca

      Lede: Cop17, focused on protecting nature and restoring ecosystems, concludes on Saturday with critics saying system allows ‘one idiot’ to stall progress One primary idiot, many useful ones... ‘Bunch of baloney’: calls grow for Cop summit reforms as countries on track to fail nature targets https://www. theguardian.com/environment/20…

      dyckron@cosocial.caMastodon8d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    • midide@digitalcourage.social

      # Biodiversity # COP17 - "The global review undertaken at COP 17 was a stocktaking exercise grounded in the evidence distilled in the State of Biodiversity Action report. Assessing global progress, the report found that the world is off track to meet the Framework's 23 targets by 2030." - Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Closing Press…

      midide@digitalcourage.socialMastodon7d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. background

    34-year record shows governments have never met a biodiversity target — Reporting reveals governments are likely on track to continue their 34-year history of never having met a target set at biodiversity conventions. The UK is on pace to meet only three of 23 current targets despite agreements reached just four years ago to transform humanity's relationship with nature.

  3. 2

    Critics argue consensus-based process structurally blocks progress

    Panama's environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro, a veteran conservationist, said the COP process had been 'designed to fail' because the consensus requirement allows any single nation to block agreement. He called for majority-vote decision-making and a single annual UN environmental summit covering climate, biodiversity, plastics and other issues.

  4. background

    French minister calls outcome inadequate to address biodiversity crisis — French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut said the summit result was 'not commensurate' with the crisis facing the natural world, describing it as 'a series of missed opportunities to speed up our response to the loss of biodiversity.'

  5. background

    COP17 reaches agreement after overnight negotiations — Nearly 200 nations struck agreements Friday at the UN biodiversity summit in Armenia after talks that ran overnight and into Saturday morning. Delegates approved crucial texts including commitments to ramp up action on meeting existing nature targets and increase biodiversity finance to $30bn a year by the end of the decade.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 5 outlets COP17 on biodiversity: Nations agree on push to get nature goals back on track

    first by Le Monde.fr, 8d ago · also Yahoo News Canada, Euronews, Channel News Asia, Le Monde EN

    2 more headlines
  2. 3 outlets ‘Bunch of balcony’: calls grow for Cop summit reforms as latest event on track to fail targets

    first by Mastodon, 8d ago · also Guardian Business, Guardian Environment

    1 more headline
  3. 3 outlets COP17: Nations chart ‘Yerevan Pathway’ to speed up action for nature

    first by UN News, 8d ago · also China Daily Global Edition, The London School of Economics and Political Science

    2 more headlines
  4. 2 outlets Biodiversity Cop17 seems to be stalling. Is it time to reform the process?

    first by The Guardian, 8d ago · also Guardian Environment

and 9 smaller pieces

What people are saying 1 voices from 1 site · best of 4 · verbatim

Still unanswered
  • Will the UN biodiversity convention adopt majority-vote decision-making, and if so, how would that change outcomes at future summits?
  • Why have governments consistently failed to meet biodiversity targets for 34 years, and what structural changes would actually alter this pattern?
  • How will the postponement of the digital biodiversity fund decision affect conservation financing and Indigenous community support?