EarthBeat Weekly: UN summit offers progress check on preserving nature

UN biodiversity summit offers progress check on preserving nature   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change November 6, 2026   The United Nations biodiversity summit, COP17, took place Oct. 19-31 in Yerevan, Armenia. (UN Biodiversity/Mike Muzurakis) In the days before Tuesday's midterm elections in the U.S., officials with nearly 200 other countries were poring through the final stages of draft documents and multilateral debates about how to ramp up global action to protect and preserve nature.  The biennial United Nations biodiversity summit, known as COP17, was held this year in Yerevan, Armenia. Among the 9,400 participants were more than 100 religious leaders and 50-plus faith-based organizations. That included Catholics, as well, with the Vatican (though, along with the U.S., not official parties to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity) sending its apostolic nuncio for Armenia alongside numerous Catholic organizations, including the Missionary Society of St. Columban.  "Our work is really reminding parties and the whole process that this is more than just a scientific, technocratic issue for the world to care about," Amy Echeverria, the Columbans' international coordinator for justice, peace and integrity of creation, told me.  Echeverria was present in Yerevan for the entirety of the two weeks of COP17. As I reported today at EarthBeat, the main focus there was a progress report on how countries were doing in meeting the series of goals and targets they set in a landmark agreement in 2022 to reverse the accelerating loss of biodiversity happening today. Often dubbed "the Paris Agreement for nature," the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework established four goals (to complete by 2050) and 23 targets (to complete by 2030) to halt biodiversity loss and restore natural ecosystems around the globe.  A report issued before the start of COP17 found that while progress is happening, it's not enough, and countries collectively are off track to meet any of the 2030 targets at this midway point. That includes central aims to designate at least 30% of lands and waters for conservation and to reform and redirect $500 billion in subsidies for environmentally damaging activities, like extracting fossil fuels. "Frustration is real because we have the science, because we know what we need to do [and] the trajectory that we're on," Echeverria told me. The final outcomes at COP17 sought to refocus and redouble global efforts, including around mobilizing greater financing for biodiversity conservation. As with the U.N. climate talks, financing always is a central sticking point.  Whether the Yerevan Pathway — one of the deals countries adopted — yields greater implementation of pledges and plans will be known in the coming years.  "We just don't have the luxury of despair," Echeverria said. Read more: Faith leaders resist despair as UN summit shows slow progress on conservation goals What else is new on EarthBeat:   Religious orders in El Salvador seek to protect community from mega-prison’s pollution by Rhina Guidos At event tied to Season of Creation, Catholic sisters and Franciscan friars in El Salvador support a rural community fighting water contamination and a landfill near CECOT, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates.  Read more here »   At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell by Jessie Wardarski, Associated Press Some of the signs removed from Acadia were developed over years of partnerships with organizations including Friends of Acadia, the Schoodic Institute and the Native Plant Trust — with consultation from citizens of the Wabanaki Nations. Read more here »   When it comes to creation, we need to be more pious by Daniel P. Horan St. Bonaventure's characterization of St. Francis' ecological piety highlights virtue of kinship. Read more here » What's happening in other climate news: What a historic 'blue wave' midterm means for climate action —Staff reports at Grist Top clean energy wins from the midterm elections —Kathryn Krawczyk for Canary Media The results are in: Voters hate data centers —Vittoria Elliott and Molly Taft for Wired Babies more likely to have heart defects from Louisiana's areas with industrial pollution, study finds —Sara Sneath for the Guardian EPA pulls the plug on regulating air pollution from giant livestock and poultry operations —Georgina Gustin for Inside Climate News Is El Niño making storms and flash floods in the Southwest worse? —Adithi Ramakrishnan for the Associated Press Rich countries fall far short on climate adaptation funding, UN says —Virginia Furness for Reuters The EPA is quietly killing its web archive —Rachel Santarsiero for Mother Jones William Nordhaus dies; Nobel winner influenced climate policy —Lydia DePillis for The New York Times Final Beat: In my report on the COP17 biodiversity summit, I mention that some scientists believe the Earth is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. Unlike the prior five events (the last one wiping out the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago), this mass extinction hasn't been triggered by natural phenomena but instead by human activities — by us.  Just as I was reporting this story, I stumbled upon an episode of the PBS show "Human Footprint" that explores the same topic. The episode was titled "Fossils in the Asphalt: Unearthing LA's ancient past" and looks at the fates of long-extinct species through the fossils and remains trapped for thousands of years in the La Brea tarpits where Los Angeles sits today.  You can watch a preview and clips of the episode here, and check your local PBS listings to see when it might air again in your area.  As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.   Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? Place an Ad in NCR's Online Classified Section for Only $75 per Month!   Advertisement