Overview
- Delegates approved central documents and an action plan to speed up the 2022 Kunming‑Montreal biodiversity targets after long talks that ended late Friday and into Saturday.
- Negotiators weakened or removed language on several issues, with disputes over harmful subsidies, Indigenous participation and high‑seas protections prompting criticism from NGOs that the texts lack ambition.
- Conference reporting highlighted a persistent annual biodiversity finance shortfall of roughly $700 billion and the near‑empty Cali‑Fund, which has raised only about $10,000 since 2025.
- States agreed to invite a process to update the traditional donor list and selected Ecuador by secret ballot (55–53) to host COP18 in 2028.
- The pact preserves the multilateral framework but shifts the immediate challenge to implementation: whether governments and companies will provide the money, stronger rules and political will needed to meet 2030 targets.