Yerevan, Armenia – Greenpeace Canada is demanding the Canadian delegation at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) to deliver strong, action-oriented decisions to prevent irreversible ecosystem collapse and biodiversity loss. Four years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), CBD COP17 will conclude the Convention’s first Global Review of collective progress towards the framework’s goals and targets.
An Lambrechts, Head of the Greenpeace delegation to CBD COP17, said: “We’re halfway to 2030 and the evidence is clear: we are far off track to reach the 30×30 targets. The systems that sustain life on Earth are under threat, and decisions made at COP17 must deliver a clear course correction to protect our planet’s ecosystems. This COP can’t become a mere entry in a vast log of destruction. Governments need to agree on concrete actions that tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss, increase finance and redirect money flows to where they are needed. But decisions in Yerevan will only matter if governments follow through at home. They cannot continue promising to protect nature while supporting its destruction through harmful subsidies and incoherent policies. Any more delay is a threat to our survival on the planet.”
Protecting and conserving at least 30% of land, and water by 2030 is one of the most visible targets of the KM-GBF. Yet the quality of protection matters as much as the area covered. With the launch of ‘A Force of Nature’ strategy, Canada is showing a clear effort to meet the 30×30 target, but falls short on ensuring that the government’s accountability exercise translates to true protection that guarantees ecological connectivity and that honours Indigenous rights and stewardship.
Moreover, Canada’s destructive ‘nation-building’ agenda is deeply incompatible with its international biodiversity commitments. The federal government’s recent social and environmental rollbacks, including with the introduction of Bill C-39 (the Building Canada Strong Act) will severely affect Canada’s progress on the other 22 targets of the Framework.
Salomé Sané, Nature & Biodiversity Campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, said:
“This year’s nature summit was supposed to be a critical milestone for Canada’s nature protection plans. Instead, it’s happening while the federal government is rushing Bill C-39 through Parliament, a bill that will destroy the nature Carney so adamantly claimed to protect. This “extraction first, nature and people last” strategy is incompatible with Canada’s biodiversity protection targets, threatens Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their lands, and jeopardizes the forests, grasslands, waters and natural landscapes that people in Canada call home. No more doubletalk: we do not have to choose between a healthy environment and a strong economy, so Canada must stop its destructive “build, baby, build” agenda at home, and support Indigenous-led conservation, strong and equitable finance mechanisms and integrate biodiversity at all policy levels for a real strong Canada.”
Greenpeace is calling on Canada at COP17 to:
- Support the proposal to formally recognise Indigenous and Traditional Territories (ITTs) as distinct systems of protected and conserved areas, and to legally secure community-led initiatives for protected areas and OECMs (Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures).
- Commit to recognize self-declared Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) as distinct, Indigenous-led and governed systems of protected areas in Canada. This would help Canada to achieve the rights-based implementation of Target 3. The Canadian government must recognize Indigenous territorial and governance rights, mandate FPIC (Free, Prior, and Informed Consent) and meaningful participation, protect environmental human rights defenders, and ensure Direct Access Finance (DAF) mechanisms that strengthen self-determination and long-term stewardship.
- Support equitable, predictable and rights-based direct access to finance mechanisms for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, through existing and future biodiversity finance mechanisms, including the GBFF, the Cali Fund, the TFFF and other international funding structures. Financial support for community-led urban initiatives is also essential to advance Target 12, particularly for racialised, low-income communities and people with disabilities who are systemically excluded from nature in many urban settings, starting in Canada.
- Increase finance from public sources, through aligning global and national economic and fiscal policies with the goals and targets of the KM-GBF, including removing harmful subsidies, tackling illicit financial flows and progressive environmental taxation to make nature destroyers pay;
- Maximise synergies between biodiversity and climate policies and action globally and nationally.
With all three Rio Conventions meeting in 2026, this year is also critical to strengthen cooperation and align action across biodiversity, climate and land use agendas. COP17 must help translate this momentum into coordinated action, with ecosystem integrity and human rights at the heart of decisions and implementation.
Ahead of governments beginning discussions, Greenpeace activists deployed a hot air balloon in the historical village of Garni, Armenia, with the message “Delay is Destruction”.
ENDS
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