Biodiversity Cop17 seems to be stalling. Is it time to reform the process?

In this week’s newsletter: There are too many meetings, and not enough decisions, say experts – and time is running out • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here When things are not going well at an environmental summit, organisers often tell delegates that the “world is watching” in an attempt to focus minds.

But spend any time at biodiversity Cop17 in Armenia and it is clear that the world’s attention is elsewhere. The negotiating halls of Yerevan’s Meridian centre are subdued. Environment ministers have arrived from all corners of the world to plan their response to being so far behind the biodiversity targets they agreed four years ago. Right now, they appear on track to miss nearly all of them. They risk continuing the miserable record of never…