GLOBAL GOALS

Goal 15 progress review

DT · Oct 4, 2026, 11:49 PM

VOLUNTEER counters of tamaraw in Mindoro scan the mountains for the endangered species endemic in the Philippines. — Photo courtesy of DENR

This October, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, COP17, will bring countries together in Yerevan, Armenia, for the first global review of progress on Goal 15. There are encouraging signs of progress on the Goal 15, according to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Deforestation has slowed, protection of key biodiversity areas has expanded, and more than half of the world’s forests are now covered by long-term management plans. By 2025, 155 countries had established national biodiversity targets, catalyzed by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Yet more than 48,600 species face extinction, and global extinction risk continues to worsen.