Deputy Minister Narend Singh leads South African delegation at UN Biodiversity COP17, 19-30 Oct

South Africa to champion fair finance and equitable benefit sharing at UN Biodiversity COP17

South Africa will participate in the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as CBD COP17, in Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 to 30 October 2026. The South African delegation will be led by the Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Mr Narend Singh.

COP17 will be held alongside the twelfth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the sixth meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing. It will conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

South Africa will advocate for an outcome that moves the international community from reviewing progress to enabling faster implementation. This requires predictable and accessible finance, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer and stronger national biodiversity monitoring systems, particularly for developing countries.

"COP17 cannot be another conference that diagnoses the biodiversity crisis without equipping countries to act. South Africa will call for a fair implementation package that matches global ambition with finance, technology and capacity, while ensuring that the benefits derived from our genetic resources are shared equitably," said Deputy Minister Singh.

On resource mobilisation, South Africa will support a strengthened strategy for 2025 to 2030 that gives effect to developed countries' obligations under Article 20 of the Convention. The country will call for increased public, grant-based and non-debt-creating finance, grounded in equity and historical responsibility, while also supporting stronger domestic resource mobilisation and innovative financing. South Africa will further advocate for a financial mechanism that is more responsive, accountable and fit for purpose for developing countries.

South Africa will place fair and equitable benefit-sharing from digital sequence information on genetic resources high on the agenda. It will support the effective operationalisation of the Cali Fund, priority access to allocations for developing countries, meaningful representation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in governance, a protected allocation window for these communities, and dedicated support for capacity-building and technology transfer.

The delegation will also support science-based processes for identifying and updating ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, while emphasising that these scientific descriptions do not determine jurisdiction, governance arrangements or management measures. South Africa will welcome the complementary role of the Agreement on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction and is undertaking domestic processes towards its ratification.

Under the Nagoya Protocol, South Africa will support a formal, Party-led process for recognising specialised access and benefit-sharing instruments in order to protect national sovereignty over genetic resources and prevent arrangements that weaken prior informed consent and benefit-sharing obligations.

South Africa will also support stronger cooperation across the biodiversity, climate change and land degradation conventions, including ecosystem-based approaches to climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

South Africa has submitted its national biodiversity targets and 7th national report in time for the global review. Following extensive consultations, the country is finalising its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for 2026 to 2035, which will guide national implementation of the Convention, its Protocols and the Global Biodiversity Framework, for submission after COP17.

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