Global Biodiversity Targets at Risk: New Report from Earth Law Center Calls for Urgent Action Through Ecocentric Governance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 26, 2026
Media Contacts:
Gayle Carda, ELC International Legal Counsel, gcarda@earthlaw.org
Emily Dwyer, ELC Associate Attorney, edwyer@earthlaw.org
Yerevan, Armenia— Earth Law Center (ELC) has developed a new report urging governments to integrate ecocentric, rights-based, and Mother Earth-centric principles into global biodiversity policy: No Time to Lose: Accelerating Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework Through Ecocentric Governance.
One hundred ninety six parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) are meeting now in Yerevan for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17). Running from October 19th to 30th, COP17 has the theme Taking Action for Nature. The gathering focuses on the first formal review of how parties are implementing the 23 GBF targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
As countries undertake this global review, the world remains off track to achieve its 2030 biodiversity targets. The CBD Secretariat’s July 2026 Draft Global Report on Collective Progress identifies two critical challenges: insufficient commitments and inadequate implementation. Despite growing recognition of ecocentric laws and governance structures, rights-based, collective, and ecocentric approaches remain among the Framework’s least understood and most underutilized provisions.
ELC’s report highlights these approaches as a powerful opportunity to accelerate implementation, close existing gaps, and drive the transformative change needed to reverse biodiversity loss. Drawing on case studies and emerging projections, it demonstrates how integrating ecocentric principles into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), domestic law, and public policy can advance the GBF while reinforcing commitments under the Paris Agreement, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the High Seas Treaty, and other international frameworks.
Finally, the report offers practical pathways for embedding ecocentrism into national legal and governance systems, including an example of integrated action on climate, biodiversity, and environmental protection. It calls on governments to move beyond conventional governance models and embrace rights-based, collective, and Mother Earth-centric solutions to deliver the ambitious, systemic change envisioned by the GBF.
