Political tensions are mounting in the final days of the United Nations biodiversity talks with a handful of countries accused of trying to weaken the science that underpins global nature policy.
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that → mount → policy
The growing feud over the role of science has alarmed veteran negotiators and follows recent efforts by fossil fuel-reliant nations to delay reports by the IPCC, the global authority on climate change.
“The same thing is happening here as what is taking place with the IPCC,” said a French government delegate at the COP17 summit in Yerevan, Armenia.
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delegate → grow → Yerevan
The delegate requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
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delegate → request → negotiations
The delegate said four countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Argentina and Brazil – were frustrating progress.
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countries → say → progress
The pushback is directed at two scientific assessments by the UN-backed IPBES biodiversity panel on the overlap between the nature and climate crises and the economic forces driving them.
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pushback → direct → them
Nearly 200 nations were due to agree how these landmark findings should guide efforts to protect nature but some countries “did not want to acknowledge them”, the French delegate added.
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delegate → agree → them
A negotiator from another developed nation told AFP these four countries were also leading this push.
“There is a clear alliance of Russia, Saudi, Argentina and, to some extent, Brazil, all working together to try to water down IPBES reports, not welcome them, or use them as bargaining chips in other negotiation items,” the negotiator said on condition of anonymity.
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negotiator → develop → anonymity
Setting precedent
Much of the dispute boils down to a few paragraphs of text in a draft agreement and whether countries should “welcome” or “take note” of the IPBES findings.
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countries → set → findings
The latter phrasing is considered far weaker in the language of UN negotiations, where every word is closely scrutinised.
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word → consider → negotiations
The current draft was “a text without ambition”, said the French delegate.
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delegate → say → ambition
“If we no longer have a scientific basis to work from, then everything we discuss here is merely a matter of opinion,” the delegate added.
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delegate → have → opinion
Academics and civil society activists at COP17 have already issued a joint statement of concern at the state of negotiations.
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Academics → issue → negotiations
When approached by AFP in Yerevan, IPBES chair David Obura declined to comment as the talks were still ongoing.
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talks → approach → Yerevan
Although the summit is due to end on Oct 30, a number of outstanding matters – including around the science – remain unresolved.
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number → end → science
The dispute echoes a growing pattern in consensus-based global negotiations, where oil-producing countries are accused of frustrating efforts to tackle fossil fuels, plastic trash and other environmental harm.
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countries → echo → fuels
Climate science has long been a flashpoint and the IPCC is currently deadlocked, as countries including Saudi Arabia and India push to delay publication of its next set of benchmark reports on global warming.
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countries → deadlocke → warming
In an unprecedented decision in 2025, a crucial summary of the Global Environment Outlook, a flagship UN scientific report, was torpedoed as nations rowed over fossil fuels.
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nations → torpedo → fuels
“We’ve pretty much always seen IPCC reports being politicised...,” said the negotiator from the developed country.
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negotiator → see → country
“They’re never easy, no decision is.
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decision → ’re → ?
There’s always nitpicking over language – but it’s gotten far worse.”
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it → nitpick → language
Bethan Loughlin, a senior policy specialist for the Zoological Society of London who observed the COP17 negotiations firsthand, said the trend was worrying.
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trend → observe → negotiations
The point is the precedent it sets,” she told AFP in Yerevan.
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she → set → Yerevan
The Aporia
