As the 17th Convention on Biological Diversity COP gets underway in Armenia, Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, reflects on what's really at stake behind the headlines, technical reports and policy jargon: a global commitment made in 2022 to halt and reverse Nature's decline by 2030, and the uncomfortable truth that progress so far, in the UK and elsewhere, is falling short. In this blog, he looks at where things stand at the halfway point to 2030, what Natural England is doing to help close the gap, and why recovering Nature must be seen not as a brake on growth, but as the foundation for it.
View from Helman Tor, Mid Cornwall Moors National Nature Reserve, May 2026The 17th conference of the parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is underway in Armenia. As usual, much jargon, technical content and specialist reports will be in circulation, as countries wrestle with the historic task of halting Nature’s decline, and embarking on the process of nurturing its recovery.
Despite all the complexity of science, policy and law under discussion, however, there is one simple truth at the heart of this global gathering. This is the fact of Nature being in catastrophic decline, with risks to the whole world as the web of life that sustains us is progressively and rapidly torn apart. Governments attending this meeting can have no doubt that the stakes are high, and the need for decisive action urgent.
Prominent on the agenda will be review of progress toward meeting the aims of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreed in Montreal in 2022 at the 15th COP of the CBD. Back then nearly every country on Earth agreed to a programme that would reverse historic losses, via pursuit of 23 targets set against four longer term goals. The date for delivering this ambitious programme was set at 2030, with the Armenia meeting thus marking the halfway point between adoption and delivery of the GBF.
As we enter this important stock-taking moment, those paying attention to the seemingly endless procession of reports which document the continuing decline of Nature will not be surprised to know that we are not where we need to be. Of the countries that have submitted progress reports (all of them should have done, but many have not) there is a consistent pattern of patchy delivery, with most of the outcomes agreed in 2022 way off target for delivery. Perhaps we should not be surprised that these stretching goals are proving difficult to reach, given the long-term nature of environmental decline and the severe global difficulties arising from war and economic pressures. But recovering Nature isn’t really optional, and failing to grasp the nettle now only makes it much more expensive to do so further down the line.
A renewed sense of urgency is required if we are to avoid further loss of natural diversity, ecosystem degradation and complete collapse of some wildlife populations. This is not only because many people care about beautiful animals and plants, but because our human life support system is at risk too. All our food, water and even the air we breathe originates in healthy natural systems, and the more we degrade those the more we imperil our own wellbeing.
Closing this gap between progress and ambition will not be easy with the targets in the GBF all presenting significant challenges. For example, back in 2022 we and more than 200 other countries agreed to protect 30 per cent of land and sea for Nature by 2030. We said we’d halt extinctions, restore 30 per cent of degraded land and make steps toward sustainable consumption patterns. We said we’d take action to cut pollution, including reducing the risks posed by pesticides and fertilisers by half and that we’d integrate biodiversity across all policy areas. All this and more has gone too slowly, and the UK is not alone. As we grapple with this rather troubling global context at the COP meetings, it is very important to remember that it is the work done within countries that will make the difference in meeting the 2030 targets.
Tony Juniper, planting at Ingleborough National Nature Reserve, September 2025This is of course of great interest to all of us at Natural England as we look at what we can do to help, including through the host of partnerships now underway which strive to restore Nature at scale. For example, The King’s of Series of National Nature Reserves is on target to create or extend 25 NNRs between 2023 and 2028. It has already brought many thousands of hectares of additional land into Nature recovery and brought 1.4 million people closer to the natural world, including in many areas suffering aspects of social deprivation. We are beginning to look at how we might capitalise on this successful programme in the years beyond 2028.
When it comes to reducing the risk of species going extinct in our islands our Species Recovery Programme continues to make a significant positive impact. Between 2022 and 2024 it supported action for the conservation and recovery of 600 species and with a further £60 million being invested over the next 3 years, water voles, chough, adders and salmon are among the many more species set to benefit from targeted action.
On the complex challenge of reducing pollution we have also worked with a number of local authorities, developers and other organisations to reduce the impact on our most sensitive Nature sites, enabling thousands of new homes to be built – an approach we are now taking forward with the first Environmental Delivery Plan in Norfolk.
Despite these and other important examples of collaboration, though, as a nation our trajectory towards 2030 isn’t where it needs to be. If we can’t succeed in bending the curve in the UK, it would be unfair to expect anything different from Indonesia, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries with enviably vast biodiversity, including rainforests, rivers, mountains and grasslands. If on the other hand we can get firmly on the path toward Nature recovery, with all the pressures we must grapple with on land and sea, then we might truly claim to be leaders, and in so doing inspire others.
As we observe and measure that gap between ambition and progress it is important to ask why this is all proving so difficult. One thing that I would say is a major factor is the continuing misconception that recovering Nature is hostile to economic growth. Many still see looking after our life support system as a distraction, an unaffordable expense or a series of unnecessary regulatory barriers, even when a vast body of evidence reveals the direct opposite to be the case.
In recognition of this rather fundamental barrier, last year Natural England launched a new strategy called Recovering Nature For Growth, Health And Security. We are very confident about the linkages between Nature and a thriving human world and are working across government to find the ways in which we can recover Nature to enable growth, promote wellbeing and assist with national resilience in ways that will help meet the 2022 GBF targets. Making Nature recovery central to the creation of new homes, infrastructure and communities – and vice versa – is the best way of meeting a host of essential priorities in a cost-effective way, building our nation’s resilience in the process. Greater collaboration involving government, business, communities and NGOs really can move us closer to our targets.
That wider collaboration is gathering momentum with a multitude of partners now involved, including through the new Government-led National Estate for Nature. This brings together a wide group of landowners from NGOs to government agencies and from private estates to the Church in making bigger plans of Nature and adding more land toward the 2030 target. Private finance is beginning to come into Nature's recovery and progress on the ground is revealing the speed at which she can recover, if given a chance, and where needed a helping hand.
None of this is easy, but as we mark another global COP it is important to remember that it is at home in multiple countries that the difference will in the end be made. Are we up for being leaders, or do we think protecting the web of life is too expensive, inconvenient and complicated?
https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/10/26/tony-juniper-cop17-from-promises-to-implementation/
seen at 10:40, 26 October in Natural England.