Biodiversity and the Conferences of the PartiesDownload PDF Download PDF EditorialPublished: 16 October 2026Nature Climate Change (2026) Cite this articleView saved researchIn a year containing summits from the three United Nations environmental frameworks, we consider how cooperation across the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) can facilitate implementation and impact. Co-timed with the start of the biodiversity COP, we highlight the reciprocal relationship between climate change and biodiversity.SubjectsBiodiversityClimate-change ecologyClimate-change impactsClimate-change mitigationScientific community and societyWhile members of the climate community might most readily associate ‘COP’ with our own annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP taking place this November, 2026 marks a triple COP year, with summits held for each of the three United Nations environmental frameworks. As this Editorial goes to press, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP17 is about to begin in Yerevan, Armenia. In August, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP17, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, saw parties reach agreement on a range of topics, including important agendas related to rangelands and pastoralists, and the launch of a global Drought Resilience Investment Facility (DRIF), aimed to mobilize finance for drought resilience.Credit: Isabel Tung/ Alamy Stock PhotoAmong the noted outcomes of the UNCCD COP17 were calls to strengthen the synergies across the three Rio Conventions, an appeal that is expected to be echoed as the COPs continue. In line with this, we share pieces that discuss the interlinked environmental crises and planetary goals and their implementation, with a specific focus on biodiversity conservation efforts in the Anthropocene.In this issue of Nature Climate Change, a Comment by Hollie Folkard-Tapp and colleagues focuses on the implementation architecture of the COPs — the methods that facilitate ambition, engagement and progress — and highlights the need for greater cross-convention learning to accelerate action. While they acknowledge the unique roles of the three conventions, they nonetheless underscore the multiple opportunities for mutual learning, discussing this in the context of each convention’s strongest contributions.Focusing more specifically on the climate–biodiversity intersection and the upcoming CBD COP17, executive secretary of the CBD, Astrid Schomaker, discusses in a Q&A in this issue the state of biodiversity at the halfway point towards the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s 2030 targets. Despite one of the key findings of the framework’s stocktake report being a clear warning that biodiversity action is not progressing as rapidly as needed, her message is one of firm optimism: the past few years have seen unprecedented engagement of different actors from all parts of the world. Talking on biodiversity and action, Schomaker warns against distraction, urging us to “get our house in order as much as we can” in this so-called critical decade.While the common goals for sustainable futures shared by the conventions present opportunities for mutual growth, the intersection of different environmental crises undoubtedly also presents unique challenges, which may require re-thinking of established methods and norms. One such example is cross-species hybridization, which Isabel Marques discusses in a Correspondence. Currently, hybrids remain largely unrecognized by conservation assessments such as the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and the hybridization process is often traditionally recognized as a threat to unique species lineages. However, increasing evidence across diverse kingdoms also indicates the potential for hybrids to have increased fitness under environmental extremes. In the context of this duality, Marques urges that we update the way in which we consider hybridization and hybrids as an essential and unavoidable part of biodiversity’s possible futures.The pieces in this issue are curated along with interviews, opinions, reviews and research work published in Nature Climate Change and other journals in the Nature Portfolio on the wider theme of conserving biodiversity in the Anthropocene in a collection entitled ‘Implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework’. It includes discussions on the advancement of biodiversity engagement and action, in the context of synergies, trade-offs, ambitions and shortfalls.Across the conventions, COPs often act as an important moment to reflect on progress and priorities. We hope to see this triple COP year as an opportunity to accelerate cooperation between the Rio Conventions and beyond these conventions to other environmental and sustainable development goals, as flagged by Schomaker: “Not just to save cost, but for greater impact”.Rights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this article