Negotiations on finance at COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia have stalled over how to fund biodiversity conservation. A UN assessment report found that governments are off track to meet nearly all 2030 targets set in the Global Biodiversity Framework, the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris Agreement.
The European Union proposed expanding the list of government donors to include emerging economies like China and Gulf states. This would allow these countries to contribute funding toward a collective financial goal for nature conservation.
Developing nations have opposed the proposal. The group of Arab countries stated at the summit's opening plenary that it "rejects any attempt" to expand the list of donors or "reclassify" the development status of countries.