The Cop17 summit ended on Saturday in Yerevan, Armenia. This meeting was about protecting nature and ecosystems. Leaders wanted to protect 30% of the planet. They also wanted to fix nearly a third of the world's damaged land. However, many people say governments are not meeting their promises.
The world is in a difficult time. Experts say we are in a sixth mass extinction event. Because of human activities, species are dying 100 times faster than the natural rate. For 34 years, the Cop convention has met to talk about these problems. But many countries do not reach their targets. This is a long pattern in history.
During the two weeks in Yerevan, leaders talked about money. They agreed to increase money for nature to $30 billion per year by the end of this decade. So far, countries have protected 252 million hectares, or 623 million acres, of damaged land. But many nations are spending their money on energy and defense instead of nature. This makes it hard to reach their goals.
The decision process was also a problem. Juan Carlos Navarro, the environment minister from Panama, was unhappy. He said the system is "designed to fail." This is because all members must agree to make a decision. He said one person can stop the whole group from moving forward. Also, some countries like Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Russia wanted to make the final agreement weaker. For example, the United Kingdom is only going to meet 3 of the 23 specific targets. The world needs real action to save nature.