Armenia: Int'l biodiversity summit in Armenia calls for stronger global action to protect nature.

The UN chief and government officials called for accelerated global action to protect biodiversity at a summit held in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Friday, urging countries to turn international commitments into concrete measures and strengthen cooperation to address biodiversity loss. The Leaders' Summit on Biodiversity, themed "Leaders for Nature," brought together heads of state and government and representatives of international organizations ahead of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), scheduled for Oct. 19 to 30. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to show "more action, more speed, and more will" to protect biodiversity, calling for assessing progress toward global conservation targets laid out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022. Guterres launched the State of Biodiversity Action report, the first global assessment of progress under the framework. The massive biodiversity funding gap remains one of the primary obstacles to achieving global targets. The summit adopted the Yerevan Declaration, entitled "Taking Action for Nature," which reaffirmed commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with its mission of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 and its vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. Shotlist: Yerevan, Armenia - Oct 15-16, 2026: 1. Interior of venue of Leaders' Summit on Biodiversity; 2. Various of guests at summit, summit in progress; 3. SOUNDBITE (Armenian, dubbed in English) Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenian Minister of Environment; COP17 President: "As one of the biodiversity hotspots, Armenia has always participated in all discussions and negotiations. Holding this presidency allows us to position ourselves as a global hub for environmental decision-making. Of course, this is a major opportunity for us first and foremost to raise awareness about the Republic of Armenia, and as a key diplomatic and political platform, it is a great honor for us to host it."; 4. Various of illuminated "ARMENIA" sign, Armenian Pavilion; officials visiting; 5. Various of venue, flags; officials, other attendees walking; 6. State of Biodiversity Action report; 7. Various of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, officials at press conference; 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General (partially overlaid with shot 9): "It's not all bad news. There is progress since the Kunming-Montreal Global Framework. There is progress, but not enough. We are far from what is necessary. We are hopeful that this COP will be a success, it can make remarkable progress in order to make sure that what started in Kunming-Montreal will be moving forward with a much stronger speed in the second half." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 9. Various of attendees [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 10. Various of meeting in progress; 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Xu Haoliang, UN Under-Secretary-General; UN Development Programme (UNDP) Associate Administrator: "Based on statistics, the world spends about 200 billion U.S. dollars every year for biodiversity protection. But the financing gap for this protection and conservation is 700 billion U.S. dollars. So, we're not spending enough money to achieve all goals of this framework. So, we have a challenge."; 12. Various of summit in progress, venue. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]