Colombia and Finland Launch COP17 Drive to Reform Biodiversity-Harming Subsidies

A coalition co-chaired by Colombia and Finland has been launched at the United Nations biodiversity conference in Yerevan to help governments identify and reform subsidies that damage ecosystems, alongside a new programme intended to support changes in national financing policies.

The October 26 launch is part of the COP17 presidency's Yerevan Call on Incentives Positive to Biodiversity. Armenia is leading the initiative with support from the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the UN Development Programme's Biodiversity Finance Initiative.

The plan has three components. The Yerevan Call sets out a political direction for reforming incentives. The Friends of Target 18, co-chaired by Colombia and Finland, will provide a forum for governments to exchange experience and coordinate technical work. The Yerevan Biodiversity Finance Challenge is designed to help countries turn those commitments into policies, budgets and financing arrangements.

Organisers also announced a $2 million call for proposals under a UNDP funding mechanism, with support from Germany and its International Climate Initiative. That figure refers to the newly announced proposal call, not to the total annual subsidy-reform target or money already disbursed to projects.

Target 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls on countries to reduce incentives harmful to biodiversity by at least $500 billion annually by 2030 while increasing positive incentives. Examples of potentially harmful support include subsidies that encourage deforestation or the excessive use of polluting agricultural inputs. Whether a particular programme is harmful depends on its design and effects.

The initiative does not itself eliminate subsidies or legally require participating countries to change their budgets. Its next test will be whether governments identify specific programmes, agree workable reforms and report measurable changes while accounting for livelihoods and food security.

The launch took place during the October 26 COP17 programme in Armenia. It is a same-day policy development; the event itself was held earlier than the latest hourly news window.