World Falling Behind on 2030 UN Biodiversity Protection Targets, Groups Warn

The world is falling behind on a global pledge to protect 30% of the planet's land and ocean by 2030, according to environmental campaigners, as the deadline for the UN-backed target passes its halfway point.

Hundreds of countries signed on to the so-called "30x30" goal as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022. The framework was hailed as a landmark agreement, setting out targets meant to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by the end of the decade.

Activists tracking progress toward the target say the share of land and ocean currently under formal protection remains well below the levels needed to stay on course, even as 2030 draws nearer. Meeting the goal would require a substantial acceleration in designating and enforcing protected areas across both terrestrial and marine environments.

Conservation groups have repeatedly warned that many national governments have been slow to translate the 2022 pledge into binding domestic policy, funding and enforcement. Marine protection in particular has lagged behind land-based targets, with vast stretches of the high seas — areas beyond any single country's jurisdiction — largely unregulated.

The biodiversity framework also included financing commitments, with wealthier nations pledging to help fund conservation in the developing world, an issue that, similar to climate finance talks, has proven contentious in follow-up negotiations.