By Karla Maass
From October 19 to 30, Yerevan, Armenia, is hosting the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), bringing together governments, Indigenous Peoples, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders at a decisive moment for the future of global biodiversity. With only four years remaining to achieve the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the recent State of Biodiversity Action report warns that, despite progress in national commitments, fewer than half of the targets assessed are advancing at the pace needed to meet them by 2030. Against this backdrop, COP17 will conduct the first global review of progress in implementing the Framework and address key discussions on biodiversity financing, the implementation of the Cali Fund, and the consolidation of the new Subsidiary Body on Article 8(j), dedicated to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The conference will test governments’ political will to translate commitments into actions and mechanisms that channel resources and enable concrete measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
COP17 presents an opportunity to strengthen recognition of Indigenous Peoples as essential actors in biodiversity conservation and the implementation of global commitments. We will closely follow how the review of the Global Biodiversity Framework incorporates the contributions, knowledge, and experiences of Indigenous territories; the possible adoption of voluntary guidance for governments to strengthen national frameworks for conservation, restoration, and territorial governance under Article 8(j); and financing negotiations, particularly the operationalization of the Cali Fund and guidelines enabling Indigenous funds to access these resources directly.
Biodiversity in a Fragmented World
This conference takes place in an international context marked by growing political fragmentation, armed conflicts, and weakening multilateral cooperation. Amid geopolitical tensions, democratic backsliding, and increasing difficulties in reaching international agreements, COP17 takes on significance beyond the environmental agenda: it tests States’ capacity to build collective responses to challenges that no country can resolve alone.
Protecting biodiversity is one such challenge, closely linked to economic stability, societal well-being, and the continuity of the systems that sustain life. The recent IPBES report warns that biodiversity loss poses a systemic risk to the global economy and financial stability. According to the report, financial flows with negative impacts on nature reached USD 7.3 trillion in 2023, compared with just USD 220 billion allocated to its conservation.
In a deeply interdependent world, strengthening the Convention on Biological Diversity also means defending international cooperation and the possibility of building a shared future grounded in collective responsibility, justice, and recognition of diverse knowledge systems, cultures, and forms of governance.
From Global Agreements to Territories
Fotografía: Bill Salazar
For the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, biodiversity conservation cannot be understood separately from Indigenous Peoples, their rights, and their governance systems. In the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, protecting forests, water, cultures, knowledge, and ways of life is part of a single, interconnected reality.
From this perspective, the Alliance will closely follow discussions that can strengthen recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ contributions to conservation, consolidate their territorial governance systems, and advance financing mechanisms that respond to their priorities. In this context, the Alliance will present its experience in developing a Bioregional Financing Mechanism: a financial architecture for the Amazon that connects Indigenous Peoples’ own governance and decision-making systems with tools for financial management, transparency, and accountability.
COP17 also offers an opportunity to advance recognition of the Amazon as the planet’s first Zone of Life, a proposal for holistic conservation that places territorial rights, knowledge, and Indigenous governance systems at the heart of protecting the biome and of strategies to advance implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
What Is at Stake at COP17?
Fotografía: WWF – COP16 – Cali, Colombia
1. Global Review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
COP17 will conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The process draws primarily on the seventh national reports and the global report on collective progress,alongside other sources of information and knowledge. The review will be more than a measurement exercise. It must show where progress has been made, where gaps persist, and what conditions are limiting implementation of the Framework, including those related to the means of implementation.
This opens an important discussion about what counts as progress and whose contributions are recognized in that assessment. The global report incorporates information from different sources and actors, offering an opportunity to make contributions beyond conventional State mechanisms more visible.
From the Amazon
The global review must explicitly recognize Indigenous Peoples’ contributions to implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework. In the Amazon, biodiversity conservation and restoration are closely connected to Indigenous Peoples’ own governance systems, knowledge, practices, and relationships with their territories. Making these contributions visible is more than a matter of recognition: it means strengthening the conditions that allow these actions to continue and ensuring that they have a meaningful place in the implementation of the Framework.
COP17 will also examine the voluntary guidelines proposed under tasks 1.1 and 1.2 of the Programme of Work. These seek to strengthen legal and policy frameworks to recognize Indigenous and traditional territories and support conservation and restoration practices led by their peoples, in line with Targets 2 and 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. They also seek to promote recognition of Indigenous tenure and territorial governance systems, as well as the inclusion of traditional lands and resource uses in spatial planning and environmental impact assessment processes.
2. Implementation of Article 8(j) and Other Provisions Related to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework depends on political commitments being backed by high-quality, sufficient, predictable, and accessible financial resources. COP17 will review implementation of the Resource Mobilization Strategy and continue discussions on the functioning of both the Strategy and the Convention’s financial mechanism.
The central question is not only how much money is mobilized, but also how financing is structured, who can access it, through which mechanisms, and under what conditions. This discussion is particularly relevant to Indigenous Peoples, whose territories hold a substantial share of the world’s biodiversity, but whose governance systems and priorities are not always reflected in conventional financing architectures.
From the Amazon
Biodiversity financing must recognize Indigenous Peoples’ governance capacities and allow resources to respond to priorities defined within their territories. Implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework requires not only mobilizing more resources, but also transforming the conditions that determine who can access them and how they can be used.
4. Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources and the Cali Fund
COP17 will advance implementation of the multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI), whose financial component is the Cali Fund, established at COP16. One of its main advances is the commitment to allocate at least 50% of its resources to needs identified by Indigenous Peoples and local communities themselves, including the possibility of direct disbursements through institutions of their own choosing.
In Yerevan, discussions will address key aspects of the Fund’s operation, including contribution criteria and rates for companies that derive commercial benefits from the use of DSI, as well as the methodology for allocating resources. A particularly important issue will be advancing the definition of mechanisms that enable direct access to financing through institutions identified by Indigenous Peoples and local communities themselves, including the procedures and requirements these institutions must meet to receive and manage funds.
From the Amazon
The Cali Fund creates an opportunity to ensure that benefits arising from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources effectively reach the Indigenous Peoples who have historically protected biodiversity. To achieve this, COP17 must advance the Fund’s capitalization and establish clear allocation and disbursement mechanisms that guarantee direct access through institutions identified by Indigenous Peoples themselves, respecting their autonomy and territorial priorities. In this context, it is important to promote the creation and strengthening of Indigenous financial institutions with their own governance structures, legitimate mechanisms for representing peoples and territories, and capacities for financial management and accountability.
Fotografía de portada: Matheus Bertelli