CBD COP17 is the 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity is a treaty signed in 1992 by governments that committed to conserving biodiversity, using it sustainably and sharing its benefits fairly.

In 2022, at COP15 in Montreal, those governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) with its mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. 

COP17 marks the culmination of the first Global Review of collective progress on the KMGBF. Parties will assess how far they've come against the Framework's 23 action targets for 2030 and four long-term goals for 2050, drawing on countries' 7th national reports.

The conference will also cover topics such as resource mobilisation and the financial mechanism (including operationalising the Cali Fund for digital sequence information benefit-sharing), the KMGBF monitoring framework and the Gender Action Plan. 

This is the 17th biodiversity conference. The last one was held in 2024 in Cali, Colombia. This year, COP17 will take place from 19 to 30 October in Yerevan, Armenia, under the theme "Taking Action for Nature."

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will be there alongside representatives from around 200 Parties to the CBD and leaders from international organisations, the private sector and civil society.

GEO will have a strong presence at COP17, with the Global Ecosystems Atlas, GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), and GEO Members and partners working to strengthen the science, data and knowledge systems needed for biodiversity monitoring, reporting and decision-making. 

GEO is a co-convenor of the Data to Action Pavilion at COP17, alongside GEO BON, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Zurich. The pavilion is supported by partners and contributors, including the European Space Agency (ESA), Esri, the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) and the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, with generous financial support from the NOMIS Foundation.

The pavilion brings together organisations working across the biodiversity knowledge system, from Earth observation and monitoring to data infrastructure and policy support, to show how integrated science and systems can accelerate KMGBF implementation. 

There will be a full programme of events at the pavilion, with the full schedule to be confirmed shortly. 

GEO, the CBD Secretariat and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will also co-host an official high-level side event on 27 October, titled "From the Global Review to National Action: Closing the Ecosystem Mapping Gap with the Global Ecosystems Atlas". Building on the momentum from COP16, the event will show progress, demonstrate use for ecosystem management and policy, and open up opportunities for countries to contribute to and benefit from the Global Ecosystems Atlas.

Meanwhile, GEO BON will co-host a side event titled "Scaling up KMGBF monitoring: Earth Observation and digital platforms as enablers for NBSAP development, monitoring and reporting" on 21 October. Find out more.

In addition, at COP17 the Armenian COP Presidency will launch the Yerevan Tech for Biodiversity Monitoring Hub with GEO as a contributing partner. The initiative, which is convened by the Armenian Ministry of Environment, CBD Secretariat, IUCN and FAO, will help countries build national monitoring systems, improve coordination among the custodians of the KMGBF's headline indicators, and connect Parties with technologies such as Earth observation, ecosystem mapping and artificial intelligence.

At COP16 in Cali, GEO launched the Global Ecosystems Atlas proof-of-concept, unveiling it at a press conference alongside CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker. 

GEO hosted its first-ever pavilion at a biodiversity COP, run with partners GEO BON, Esri and Ai2. The pavilion featured more than 50 sessions, seven of them organised by the GEO Secretariat, covering topics including biodiversity indicators, AI in environmental monitoring and geospatial tools for conservation planning.

Our official side event, "Mapping Nature's Footprint" drew more than 100 delegates and speakers, including UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen and government ministers from South Africa and the Maldives. It was there that the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation announced a USD 2.5 million pledge for the Global Ecosystems Atlas's continued development.

GEO and GEO BON also worked with Party delegates and the CBD Secretariat through the negotiations on the monitoring framework, helping ensure the draft decision referenced the Global Ecosystems Atlas and GEO BON's Global Biodiversity Observing System (GBiOS) as key resources for tracking headline indicators.

We'll be documenting our time at COP17 on LinkedIn, so follow us there.

For more information, contact: mcrook@geosec.org