India, Oct. 19 -- Ahead of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Turkey's Antalya next month, negotiators are gathering in Armenia's Yerevan for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's COP17 from October 19 to 30. Countries will take stock of their collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), a landmark agreement adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, at COP17 for the first time.

Nearly 200 countries agreed to the framework with 23 targets for 2030, including protecting at least 30% of the world's land, inland waters and seas, restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems and mobilising at least $200 billion a year for biodiversity from all sourc...