YEREVAN, October 18, 2026: World leaders have adopted the Yerevan Declaration – Taking Action for Nature, reaffirming their commitment to halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieving a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.
The declaration was delivered at the conclusion of the plenary session of the Leaders for Nature Summit in Yerevan on October 16, ahead of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference.
Heads of State and Government, alongside representatives of international organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women, youth, businesses, financial institutions, civil society and academia, called for urgent and coordinated action to translate global biodiversity commitments into measurable results.
The declaration reaffirms commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It recognizes that biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides underpin food security, climate resilience, sustainable development, human health, economic prosperity and the well-being of present and future generations.
While welcoming growing global momentum for biodiversity conservation, the leaders acknowledged that progress remains insufficient to achieve the framework’s objectives. They stressed the need to accelerate implementation through stronger international cooperation, enhanced financing and more ambitious national action.
Stronger national action and financing
The declaration calls for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to biodiversity conservation, including integrated planning, effective environmental governance and sustained political leadership.
It urges governments to strengthen the conservation, restoration, management and sustainable use of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. Biodiversity considerations should also be integrated into public policies and economic sectors to ensure greater policy coherence and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The leaders emphasized the urgent need to mobilize increased, adequate, predictable, timely and accessible public and private finance from all sources. They called for stronger international partnerships, capacity-building, scientific and technical cooperation, technology transfer and innovation, particularly to support developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States.
Inclusive governance and sustainable production
The declaration highlights the importance of strengthening biodiversity monitoring, planning, reporting and review, improving data and knowledge systems, and promoting science-based decision-making.
It also recognizes the importance of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, with their free, prior and informed consent, as appropriate.
The leaders called for the meaningful, full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women, youth, local authorities, academia, civil society and the business and finance sectors in achieving the framework’s 2030 mission and targets.
They further pledged to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns across economic sectors and called for fair and equitable benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, including through the Cali Fund.
Call for accelerated global implementation
The declaration stresses the need for greater coordination among the Rio Conventions, other multilateral environmental agreements and the wider United Nations system to improve the effectiveness of global environmental action.
Looking ahead to the first global review of collective progress under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the leaders described it as an important opportunity to strengthen transparency, accountability and collective learning, identify implementation gaps and accelerate progress towards the framework’s 23 targets.
They called on the United Nations Biodiversity Conference to reflect the political vision and commitments set out in the Yerevan Declaration in its deliberations and outcomes, establishing a clear pathway towards accelerated implementation.
Concluding with a message of determination and hope, the leaders stressed that biodiversity loss remains one of the major challenges of the time, but that addressing it offers an opportunity to build a more sustainable, resilient and equitable future.
The declaration urges governments, international organizations, financial institutions, the private sector and all other stakeholders to turn commitments into concrete action, strengthen partnerships and ensure lasting benefits for people, the planet and prosperity.
