Catherine Weller, director of global policy at campaign group Fauna & Flora, said the Yerevan agreement was welcome but also noted that funding fell far short of a commitment that was a key part of the 2022 agreement. “In a world of trillionaires, we can well afford to spend $200 billion annually to protect and restore what keeps us all alive: nature,” she said.
Conference organizers said governments, philanthropists and businesses announced nearly $2 billion in new financial commitments to mark the Armenian meeting.
This included the Netherlands’ commitment to donate $500 million to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a Brazilian initiative to pay countries to preserve their forests. The pledge was announced in the Dutch parliament the day after Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was re-elected president, to the relief of many participants at the biodiversity summit.
After the conference concluded, Carina Pimenta, Brazil’s National Secretary for Bioeconomy, highlighted Lula’s successes in protecting the Amazon rainforest and spoke of hope. “At a time of growing global uncertainty, the Yerevan Declaration sends a strong message: world leaders recognize that protecting biodiversity is essential for food security, livelihoods and economic resilience,” she said.
A growing number of countries that have created national diversity plans and the new commitment to the Brazilian fund are “reasons for cautious optimism,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature.
But in a number of countries, international funding for protected areas and conservation areas has fallen over the years caused by war and high energy prices, with environmental funding falling by 27 percent in the period 2026-2030.
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