From 19–30 October 2026, governments and other actors from around the world will gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

For the Wyss Academy, COP17 is an opportunity to bring evidence and experience from real landscapes into discussions about what it takes to implement the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – particularly around 30x30, Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), governance, biodiversity data, and the relationships between conservation and people’s livelihoods.

Global targets provide direction, but their implementation depends on decisions made in specific places: where conservation happens, how land and resources are governed, whose knowledge informs decisions, who is affected, and how institutions work together.

Our contribution to COP17 explores these questions through research, landscape experience, and policy dialogue. Three side events examine different aspects of OECM recognition and Target 3 – from evidence and national reporting to community governance, food production, and pastoral landscapes. Three accompanying briefs look more widely at what GBF implementation means in real landscapes, how different pathways to 30x30 affect people and conservation outcomes, and what happens beyond the boundaries of individual conservation areas.

Together, they ask a common question: what does it take to turn global biodiversity goals into approaches that work in context?

Yerevan Conservation Symposium 2026: Beyond State Protected Areas

17–18 October 2026

Ahead of the formal opening of COP17, Dr. Richard Kiaka will represent the Wyss Academy at the Yerevan Conservation Symposium, hosted by the Government of Armenia as COP Presidency. The symposium will include the launch of the Yerevan Call to Action.

Global concept, local proof: Who decides what counts as an OECM?

21 October 2026 | 09:00–10:30 | Data to Action Pavilion, COP17 Blue Zone

What counts as credible evidence for OECM recognition – and who gets to decide? Drawing on experiences from Kenya, Madagascar, and Thailand, this session examines how community knowledge, scientific evidence, official data, and national processes come together in OECM recognition and reporting.

30x30 at the landscape level: Pursuing OECMs through local governance, national standards and stewardship

21 October 2026 | 13:30–14:30 | Nature Positive Pavilion, COP17 Blue Zone

How can national OECM frameworks recognize conservation already happening in landscapes while supporting credible standards, community governance, and ecological connectivity? The discussion brings global progress on 30x30 into conversation with emerging processes in Kenya and Madagascar.

Systemic governance and GBF implementation

21 October 2026 | 17:30–18:30

Dr. Van Hai Nguyen will contribute to a discussion on systemic governance and the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

30x30 in living landscapes: Sustaining livelihoods, biodiversity and food production through OECMs

26 October 2026 | 17:30–18:30 | Food and Agriculture Pavilion, COP17 Blue Zone

What does Target 3 mean in landscapes where farming, grazing, conservation, and development already coexist? Drawing on national OECM processes in Kenya and Madagascar, the session explores governance, trade-offs, community stewardship, and the conditions needed for OECM recognition to work alongside productive land uses. A networking coffee follows the discussion.