YEREVAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Global efforts to halt biodiversity loss face a common test: whether conservation commitments can withstand the pressures of poverty, conflict and competing economic priorities.

At Friday's Leaders' Summit on Biodiversity in Yerevan, those pressures brought the challenge of implementation into focus ahead of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), scheduled to begin Monday in the Armenian capital.

The discussions underscored how closely biodiversity protection is tied to security and development, how much shared ecosystems depend on cross-border cooperation, and how implementation hinges on accessible finance and broad participation.

NATURE AS A SECURITY CONCERN

Speakers at the summit underscored how environmental pressures can compound security risks.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that pollution spreads beyond national borders, while Lebanese Environment Minister Tamara El-Zein cited World Bank estimates putting environmental damage from the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2023-2024 at more than 500 million U.S. dollars.

The security argument also extended to economic resilience. Britain's representative described nature as critical infrastructure supporting prosperity, security and resilience. European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said 55 percent of global GDP was highly dependent on nature.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres linked biodiversity loss to conflict, climate disruption, food insecurity and disease, arguing that these crises could not be addressed separately.

With nature protection increasingly seen as essential to peace and security, Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu called for win-win cooperation and multi-stakeholder governance to strengthen biodiversity conservation and resilience for sustainable development.

GLOBAL GOALS, REGIONAL REALITIES

The summit's regional examples exposed another challenge: ecosystems cross borders, while policies and funding are largely organized nationally.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the Caspian seal population had fallen from 1 million to 270,000 over the past century, invoking the ecological disaster of the Aral Sea and urging action to prevent a similar fate for the Caspian. He reiterated Kazakhstan's proposal to establish an international water organization within the UN system, suggesting it could become a joint Central Asian initiative open to other countries.

The pressures extend beyond the Caspian. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said his country had lost more than 1,300 glaciers in recent decades. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said only around 30 of the 101 rivers that historically flowed into Lake Issyk-Kul now flowed year-round.

Such changes threaten water supplies, ecosystems and livelihoods simultaneously, underscoring the need for cooperation on shared waters and habitats. Proposals included a regional center to combat desertification in Central Asia and an Armenian initiative for a Yerevan platform on biodiversity, mountain and freshwater ecosystems.

Yet regional cooperation must also deliver effective protection on the ground. International Union for Conservation of Nature President Razan Al Mubarak cautioned that simply meeting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's target of conserving at least 30 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and marine and coastal areas by 2030 would not guarantee lasting conservation outcomes. Protected areas also need effective management, equitable governance, ecological representation and connectivity.

Huang, the Chinese environment minister, called for advancing national biodiversity strategies and action plans and translating global targets into national policies and practical measures.

FINANCING DELIVERY

Even well-designed plans face a financial obstacle: money continues to flow overwhelmingly toward activities that damage nature.

Guterres said that for every dollar invested in protecting nature, 30 dollars were spent destroying it, with nature-negative financial flows reaching 7.3 trillion dollars in 2023. The challenge is therefore both to increase conservation funding and redirect investment and incentives that undermine it.

Speakers outlined several funding commitments. Ribera, of the European Commission, said the European Union was on track to double its international biodiversity finance to 7 billion euros (7.86 billion dollars) over 2021-2027. Britain said it would allocate around 6 billion pounds (7.98 billion dollars) in international climate finance over the next three financial years, with roughly a quarter expected to support nature.

For developing countries, however, the test is whether such commitments translate into predictable and accessible support. Indonesian Environment Minister Mohd Jumhur Hidayat stressed that other funding sources should complement, rather than replace, international public finance. Zimbabwean Environment Minister Evelyn Ndlovu highlighted the priority of delivering at least 30 billion dollars annually in international biodiversity finance by 2030.

Beyond funding, Huang said, technological and capacity-building support was also needed, pointing to China's contribution of 1.5 billion yuan (about 224 million dollars) to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund.

The summit's closing Yerevan Declaration called for political commitments to translate into measurable action and lasting results. As COP17 opens on Oct. 19, the challenge will be to turn that resolve into decisions that give countries the resources and support to deliver on their biodiversity promises.