With just three years to 2030 – the major milestone for global biodiversity commitments – the world is not on track to meet them. A Global Review of progress towards the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework confirms that implementation is lagging across the board, highlighting  marine and coastal regions as a major gap. Marine and coastal ecosystems face overlapping pressures from industrial fishing, coastal developments, pollution and other industrial activities. 

Governments commit to conservation internationally while continuing to approve destructive activities nationally, so when it comes to marine and coastal areas, only 10.04% are protected or conserved to some degree. Even that figure does not tell the whole story: many areas counted as protected remain exposed to destructive activities, or fail to respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities. 

With decision makers meeting at the UN Biodiversity Conference COP17 in Yerevan, the question is, how can governments close the implementation gap when it comes to marine protection, while supporting and centering the leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities?   

Protecting 30% of land and ocean by 2030 is not simply about reaching a numerical target. Protection must be effective and equitably governed, respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and address the destructive activities driving biodiversity loss.

For coastal communities, governments’ failure is not abstract. In Thailand’s Chana district, coastal communities have resisted an industrial estate project they did not choose, while establishing Talae Na Baan zones in which they set fishing rules, restore biodiversity through traditional “fish homes” and protect local waters. Yet these community-led solutions often lack formal legal recognition and can be overridden by large-scale state concessions. In Chile, legal frameworks exist to recognise Indigenous stewardship of marine and coastal areas, but weak and slow implementation leaves communities facing continued industrial pressures. These cases expose the injustices small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities often have to face. Those who have been protecting vital ecosystems for generations are often sidelined, treated as stakeholders to be consulted within someone else’s plans, and often not even that.

Top-down conservation can consequently restrict access to customary waters without addressing the industrial activities driving their destruction. Protecting the marine and coastal ecosystems on which we all depend requires more than participation: it requires legal recognition of the customary and tenure rights and scaling up community-led conservation initiatives, alongside support for community-led and co-managed governance of protected and conserved areas.

As governments meet at COP17, the debate over marine protection must go beyond how much ocean is designated as protected. Marine ecosystems do not follow administrative boundaries. Mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, migration routes and the high seas are part of the same living ocean. Protecting isolated patches while the surrounding waters remain exposed to pollution, destructive fishing or extraction will not halt biodiversity loss.

The entry into force of the new agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, known as the BBNJ Agreement or Global Ocean Treaty, creates a historic opportunity to protect biodiversity on the high seas. Synergies between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Global Ocean Treaty can help drive a seamless network of protected areas from coastal waters to the high seas. But effective marine protection is not only about where protected areas are established. It is also about who has the power to shape and govern them. 

Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities must have a decisive role in decisions affecting the waters, livelihoods and cultures they have sustained for generations. The evidence shows what this can achieve. After more than a decade of community management, the Kawawana community conserved area in Senegal had restored a heavily degraded ecosystem, with 20 fish species, manatees, dolphins and crocodiles returning. The recovery also helped revitalise the local fisheries economy and improve people’s quality of life. This is not simply a case for consulting communities: it shows what becomes possible when their authority, knowledge and governance are recognised and supported. 

Governments increasingly praise Indigenous Peoples and local communities as essential partners in protecting biodiversity, while continuing to deny them meaningful authority over the ecosystems they sustain. At CBD COP17  the UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan in October, consultation and participation alone will not be enough. Governments must uphold Indigenous Peoples’ distinct rights to self-determination, customary tenure and free, prior and informed consent. They must equally recognise the rights and role of local communities and small-scale fishers by securing their access to coastal resources and giving them real influence over decisions affecting their waters and livelihoods. 

An ocean area is not truly protected if destructive activities continue inside it. Nor is conservation just if the people who have stewarded those waters for generations are pushed aside in the process.

COP17 should not be another round of ambitious speeches. Governments must close the gap between commitment and delivery, and shift power and resources for ocean protection towards the people already defending the sea.

The Global Review makes the failure visible. Governments gathering in Yerevan must make ocean justice part of the solution.

Dr Erika Bjureby Saldes is the Biodiversity Global Political Lead at Greenpeace International and Nichanan Tanthanawit is the Global Project lead for Ocean Justice Campaign at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Thailand.

What would you do, if a factory farm close to your home started burning pig waste? If toxic smoke and fumes began choking your community? If you’re Wilberth Alfonso Nahuat Puc, you fight back. 

Wilberth lives in Santa María Chí, a Mayan community of about 500 residents in the lush forests of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. For years, he had to deal with an industrial megafarm holding 49,000 pigs just 250 meters from his town. 

“The impact was direct. Water contaminated by high concentrations of nitrites, nitrates and fecal bacteria coming from the farms led to gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases,” Wilberth says.

By 2023, the megafarm began burning pig waste, filling the air with toxic smoke that left local children and adults suffering from acute pharyngitis (a sudden, severe sore throat). Realising their health and home were on the line, the community organised peaceful protests to stop the burning.

The response from the farm’s owners and authorities was swift and aggressive. Wilberth, acting as local Municipal Commissioner, was hit with lawsuits designed to silence local leadership and people standing up for their rights.

But Wilberth and his neighbours didn’t go silent, instead they filed 28 environmental injunctions against state, municipal, and federal agencies, demanding transparency and testing. And their persistence worked. On September 4, 2025, environmental regulators permanently shut down the megafarm after confirming illegal wastewater dumping and repeated safety breaches. By April 30, 2026, the last animal was removed from the site.

The environmental cost of Mexico’s pork expansion in the Maya rainforest

Wilberth’s victory in Santa María Chí offers a hopeful roadmap for local action, but the broader threat remains. The state of Yucatán accounts for nearly 10% of Mexico’s total pork production, driven largely by meat exports to international markets like the United States, South Korea and Japan.

The region sits on top of the Great Mayan Aquifer, a vast subterranean freshwater system of wells and sinkholes known locally as cenotes (from the Mayan word “dzonot”). This freshwater system is a vital source of drinking water to 5 million people, and because the region’s limestone ground is highly porous, liquid manure and chemical runoff sink almost instantly into the underground water network.

A new report released this week by Greenpeace México and Greenpeace International, titled “The Price of Pork”, reveals the scope of this crisis. Water samples gathered across 17 sites in Yucatán showed widespread fecal contamination and nitrate levels far exceeding World Health Organization safety guidelines. High nitrate levels in drinking water are linked to serious health conditions, including colorectal cancer and pre-term birth – and a growing body of research links ingested nitrate to these risks at levels far below the current WHO guideline.

Despite these risks, official data shows that over 90% of industrial pig farms in the region operate without mandatory environmental impact assessments.

Community resistance against pork megafarms, and protecting the aquifer 

Although Wilberth and his community successfully shut down their neighbouring megafarm, their work is far from over.

“We insist, resist, and persist against pork megafarms, because there is still much to do,” Wilberth says. “The territory remains damaged, even though the farm that affected my community has closed. It is a problem that affects the entire peninsula, and we know our territory can no longer support another megafarm.”

The toxic waste left behind still needs to be safely removed and the groundwater restored. 

While Wilberth’s story demonstrates the power of local people resisting industrial agriculture, it shouldn’t be left to local communities and volunteers to fight every megafarm one by one. Across the rest of the Yucatán peninsula, hundreds of similar megafarms continue to operate near residential areas and protected ecosystems.

To protect local health and save the region’s remaining clean water, Greenpeace México is urging Mexican authorities to place an immediate pause on new or expanding industrial pork operations, hold illegal operators accountable, and ensure local communities have a final say in developments that impact their water and land.

Across the world, massive factory farms are polluting local drinking water to line the pockets of a wealthy few. But communities are drawing a line in the sand. From the Yucatán Peninsula to every corner of the world, people are standing up, fighting back, and demanding clean water.

Water is a human right, not corporate profit. Join the global movement—sign the petition today.

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José Luis Perlasca is a Campaigner at Greenpeace México

In a year of exceptionally high land and ocean surface temperatures that have triggered wild climate extremes, the annual UN climate talks will again put governments in the spotlight. The COP31 summit will be held in Antalya, Türkiye in November and pose a critical question to governments: how will they accelerate their efforts to solve the escalating climate crisis?

That question holds an unfortunate truth: for too long too many governments have failed to ratchet up action with the urgency needed. As a result, oil and gas companies and nature destroyers have continued to profit at the public’s expense as communities increasingly face so-called ‘natural disasters’ such as wildfires, drought and torrential rainfalls.

It’s time the tide turned! In a year in which the US/Israel war on Iran and geopolitical tension further exposed the inherent risk of oil and gas and led to fossilflation, this year’s climate COP offers renewed hope of change to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels – the single biggest driver of the climate crisis – and to end and reverse forest destruction.

For many people though, COPs sound like political speeches and photo ops disconnected from everyday life. But they are also one of the key tools we have to tackle the climate crisis together because they are the place where governments make critical decisions that impact us all. So the COP is a moment where governments must listen to our voices and take action for the planet. 

What is the climate COP?

COP stands for Conference of the Parties, the annual UN climate summit held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the international treaty established in 1992. Currently, 198 parties participate in the UNFCCC and these countries meet at COPs to negotiate how to limit global heating, cut greenhouse gas emissions and support communities already affected by climate impacts.

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What have COPs achieved?

While at times progress has been far too slow, finally at COP21 in Paris in 2015, the Paris Agreement was reached. This landmark moment saw governments agree to hold temperature increases to “well below 2°C” and aim for 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – a planetary boundary beyond which climate risks escalate. It represented a turning point in efforts to curb global warming.

In fact, the Paris Agreement gave the world a new direction and accelerated the clean energy transition. National policies have led to the projected temperature increase falling from just below 4°C at the time of adoption of the agreement to just below 3°C today. There is still a large 1.5°C ambition gap, however, and the UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2026 has said we could reach global warming of up to 2.8°C this century if current government policies continue.

Another pivotal moment arrived at COP28 in Dubai in 2023, when a COP decision for the first time called for a transition away from fossil fuels and where governments also committed to end forest destruction by 2030. It was an historic moment, but at the time Greenpeace also warned: “Leaders must now commit to a full, fast, fair and funded fossil fuel phase-out”.

And now, momentum towards a just transition away from fossil fuels is gathering pace. Last year, at COP30 in Belém, Brazil – when the world celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement – more than 80 parties backed a proposed roadmap to end fossil fuels. 

Unfortunately, that roadmap did not become part of the final COP30 outcome, but it showed that while there were some countries still clinging onto oil and gas, there were many others ready to plan for and implement a post-fossil-fuel future. The next challenge is turning that into action.

COP31: the urgency of action ahead of a looming 1.5°C overshoot 

The scale of the problem was set out in an heartbreaking report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in September, when it said we expect to head beyond the 1.5°C threshold within the next few years. It called on governments to minimise the extent and length of any overshoot and accelerate climate action to help reduce temperatures in the long-term.

But even in the best case scenario, the UNEP said that our temperature rise is still expected to hit 1.8°C before declining. This is why Greenpeace is demanding that governments urgently respond by rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels and ending forest destruction to minimise the threat.

What’s on the agenda for COP31?

This year’s COP is unique because it is being hosted by both Türkiye and Australia, the first UN climate summit where the powers of the COP presidency is being split between two countries. It’s an unusual arrangement where Australia will chair the COP’s negotiations – a role it must now live up to after pledging to undertake it in meaningful partnership with the Pacific. 

This is why the preparatory pre-COP – an important milestone on the road to COP31 – was held in Nadi, Fiji, in October as part of an Australia-Pacific presidency. That’s where some of the key Pacific expectations for COP31 were presented: keep 1.5°C within reach, make climate finance accessible to frontline communities and place the ocean at the heart of the climate agenda.

The dual-presidency role has also seen Türkiye present a COP31 Presidency’s electrification pledge, aiming to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption to 35 % by 2035. It was a goal also backed by Australia to make COP31 an ‘Electrification COP’.

While Greenpeace has welcomed the presidency’s electrification target, it must not distract from the central issue: ending the extraction and expansion of fossil fuels because electrification alone will not solve the climate crisis.

What must governments do on fossil fuels at COP31?

At COP31, governments must translate the COP28 commitment made in the global stocktake to transition away from fossil fuels into actionable national plans. In the wake of the perils fossil fuel dependency has brought this year amid the fall-out from the US/Israel war on Iran, COP31 must signal a firm commitment to a new path – one anchored in renewables-based electrification and an active wind-down of fossil fuels as part of a fast, fair and funded just transition. 

Essentially, what governments need to do is to reaffirm and accelerate efforts to the energy goals agreed at COP28: tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 by accelerating a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels in this critical decade. 

Greenpeace is also calling for the ‘35 by 35’ electrification goal to become a credible pathway to displace fossil fuels from electricity generation. Renewable power generation should increase to at least 75% by 2035 as part of a phase down of fossil fuels, backed by finance, technology and capacity building support tailored to Global South countries’ sectoral and infrastructure needs.

We are also calling on governments to present national action and roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels – building on the landmark Santa Marta conference – with developed countries taking the lead. And the establishment of a Just Transition Mechanism to coordinate fragmented global efforts and accelerate international finance and capacity support for just transition.

What must governments do for forests at COP31?

At COP31, Greenpeace is calling on governments to establish an implementation and accountability framework capable of delivering the 2030 forest and biodiversity targets. Forests stand at the crossroads of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. Their fate is being put at risk by the deep fragmentation of the global forest governance landscape.  

Greenpeace argues one of  the problems is that existing frameworks underestimate the significance of forest degradation by focusing primarily on deforestation, while failing to adequately address impacts from logging, next to extractive activity and global commodity supply chains. 

Efforts to achieve the 2030 forest and biodiversity targets previously agreed under separate UN conventions must accelerate, through an inclusive, participatory, multi-stakeholder coordination process that also improves accountability and bridges the gaps between finance and delivery.

After the global community’s failure to reach ambitious decisions on forests at COP30 in the Amazon, the Brazil-led 2030 Forest Roadmap initiative offers a critical opportunity to turn commitments and agreed targets into action. The question no longer is whether forests will remain standing, but they will remain functioning.

There can be no 1.5°C solution without work to end and reverse forest destruction and at COP31, states need to establish an implementation and accountability framework that can deliver the 2030 forest and biodiversity targets.

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What must governments do for climate finance and to make polluters pay at COP31?

At COP31, it is vital that developed countries announce ambitious multi-year post-2025 commitments that reflect their fair share in delivering the US$300 billion climate finance goal established at COP29. As 2026 has painfully laid bare, devastating climate impacts have significantly intensified, but conversely richer developed countries have cut back, rather than stepped up their public finance to disproportionately impacted Global South and climate vulnerable countries. 

It’s thus critical that COP31 helps bridge the gap between what developed countries are providing and ensure they fulfil their international climate finance obligations.

At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, a new US$300 billion climate finance goal was established to pay for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage in disproportionately impacted Global South countries. Although woefully inadequate to meet the needs of climate vulnerable states – it’s vital that developed countries announce ambitious multi-year post-2025 commitments that reflect their fair share in delivering the goal by 2035.

And there are clear ways to help plug the finance gap through progressive environmental taxation, such as ensuring wealthy polluting oil and gas corporations and the super-rich are held to account for their climate damages. As oil and gas companies book mega profits, COP31 can help unlock progress by endorsing the principle of progressive taxation.

The people’s voice at COP31

While not everyone of us can attend the COPs to demand change, it’s critical that civil society, Indigenous Peoples, youth and activists are inside the UN venue to hold governments accountable, to challenge greenwash and to amplify voices that too often go unheard.

While corporate lobbyists from fossil fuel giants or meat and dairy companies prowl the UNFCCC system to try and exert influence over the outcome, Greenpeace attends the COPs to challenge and expose them. 

We’re also there to maintain the pressure on politicians to ensure they act in the interest of people, not profit, and make the urgent changes our world demands. It’s far from perfect, but the path to keep 1.5°C alive also runs through the COP and it’s long past time they led to accelerated action. 

• Greenpeace policy briefing: COP31 priorities and expectations 

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Berlin, Germany – Greenpeace Germany activists protested during NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote at NVIDIA GTC Conference. The activists projected “NVIDIA, clean up your dirty business” onto the stage and unrolled a banner with the same message referencing the environmental and ethical impact of the AI frenzy, enabled by the massive production of their chips for global markets.

In recent years, Greenpeace organisations have repeatedly exposed the company’s climate footprint especially through its outsourced manufacturers powered by dirty fossil fuels and concentrated in East Asia.[1][2]

Benjamin Stephan, Big Tech campaigner at Greenpeace International, said: “While NVIDIA is building an unchecked AI empire no one consented to, people are paying the price. Around the world, communities face damage to water supplies and soil, alongside rising electricity bills because of unchecked expansion of data centres. Meanwhile, the environmental burden of chip manufacturing weighs on communities in East Asia.”

NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalisation, generating huge profits, plays a central role in the AI investment frenzy. It has partnered with financial institutions to finance more data centres, glossing over both their environmental impacts and the risk of further inflating a financial bubble on the brink of bursting. Greenpeace International is sounding the alarm about this Big Tech expansion, which poses a direct threat to the environment and the global economy.

Referencing recent remarks by NVIDIA’s CEO,[3] Stephan said: “The world does not need more ‘pain and suffering’. People are already facing multiple crises, from climate change to the rising cost of living. Better technology is possible, if driven by communities’ needs and controlled by strong, binding regulation, so that technology serves the public interest rather than further inflating the AI bubble.”

Greenpeace International demands that NVIDIA serve the public interest by investing substantially in additional renewable energy capacity. The organisation also calls on the company to extend its 100% renewable energy target beyond its own corporate operations to cover its entire manufacturing supply chain by 2030, including suppliers in key production regions in East Asia.

Finally, Greenpeace International is calling for NVIDIA to implement an independent audit process covering all distributors, subsidiaries and third-party vendors worldwide to ensure that its products are not used in ways that violate human rights and are not incorporated into military equipment.

ENDS

Notes:

[1] NVIDIA’s climate hoax: New analysis on NVIDIA’s rising emissions and greenwashing details how NVIDIA has misleadingly masked its staggering emissions impacts.
[2] NVIDIA’s Green Illusion analysis by Greenpeace East Asia shows the environmental burden of chip productions is concentrated in manufacturing hubs such as South Korea and Taiwan, where power grids remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
[3] In an online interview published by the New York Times, NVIDIA’s CEO called for more fossil fuels and claimed “we must endure pain and suffering before AI can save us”.

Contacts: 

Guillaumine Lickel, Deputy Communications Lead , Greenpeace International, +33 6-73-89-48-90 (EMEA), glickel@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Greenpeace has urged governments meeting at the UN climate summit COP31 in Antalya next month to take stock of the latest emissions gap data and rapidly scale up action towards a just transition away from fossil fuels to keep 1.5°C alive.

The United Nations Environment Programme warned global warming could reach up to 2.8°C this century if current government policies continue, a worse prediction than last year, but rapid emissions cuts could still limit that to 1.7°C to 1.8°C. It said emissions cuts of 18 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 69 percent by 2040 – all based on 2025 levels – were needed for this scenario, in addition to carbon dioxide removals.[1]

In its Emissions Gap Report 2026: The Point of Return, the UNEP said the roll-out of renewable energy and climate policies had already yielded cuts to emissions, but a massive acceleration was required to limit the extent of an overshoot of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit. It had earlier declared the world would exceed 1.5°C warming, likely in the next few years.[2]

Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director at Greenpeace International said: “This UNEP report is yet another alarm, but governments keep hitting the snooze button. Climate action delayed is climate harm multiplied. The pathway back to 1.5°C is still there in front of us, but only if governments wake up to the reality that the stability of our climate is rapidly slipping away.

“As we come to terms with the prospect of a 1.5°C overshoot, we know that every fraction of a degree still matters and these successive UNEP reports must galvanise political leaders to take the steps needed now and tomorrow to help turn the trajectory around. That means holding fossil fuel polluters to account and standing with the people rather than profiteers.”

The UNEP report starkly revealed the shortfall in government policies, outlining that even with the full implementation of climate action plans (NDCs), this would only reduce emissions by 5-8 percent by 2030 and 11-15 per cent by 2035, relative to 2025 levels.

At COP31, Greenpeace is calling on states to reaffirm and accelerate action towards the first Global Stocktake energy goals agreed at COP28 in Dubai in 2023: tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 and accelerating a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels this critical decade.[3][4]

Notes:
[1] UNEP: Emissions Gap Report 2026: The Point of Return 

[2] UNEP report: Limiting Overshoot 

[3] UNFCCC: Outcome of the first global stocktake

[4] Greenpeace: COP31 Priorities and Expectations

Contact:

Aaron Gray-Block, Greenpeace International, Climate Politics Communications Manager, aaron.gray-block@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

Mérida, Mexico – Water testing conducted in Mexico’s Yucatán State, in an area near the state capital city of Mérida, has found that severe, widespread fecal and chemical contamination is threatening the country’s largest source of renewable groundwater, driven in part by illegal industrial pig farms, a new report by Greenpeace México and Greenpeace International has revealed today. [1]

José Luis Perlasca, Campaigner at Greenpeace México, said: “For years, the rapid expansion of high-impact industrial activities has been allowed to take place in one of Mexico’s most important—and at the same time, most vulnerable—hydrological systems, causing various problems of water and groundwater contamination on the peninsula. This report offers a grim picture of the devastating effects that megafarms are having on the Selva Maya.

Commissioned by Greenpeace México and conducted by an accredited independent laboratory, the study, titled ‘The Price of Pork: How Illegal Pig Megafarms Are Destroying Mexico’s Underground Springs’,  investigated 17 sites across six communities, taking water samples from wells and cenotes, the iconic freshwater sinkholes that dot the densely forested Yucatán Peninsula. The results showed critical levels of fecal bacteria, with multiple sites reaching maximum laboratory quantification limits. 

Additional studies conducted by local Maya community group To’one Ja’o’on (We Are Water) Network in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico at five overlapping sites has confirmed the presence of pig fecal matter in water samples. [2]

Perlasca continued: “The contamination of Mexico’s largest groundwater source not only threatens the environment and the livelihoods of nearby communities but also poses a potential public health disaster that could endanger the drinking water supply for millions of people. Environmental authorities need to realise: this is not just a local problem, but one that could jeopardise the whole region’s capacity for survival and regeneration.” 

Testing revealed high levels of water pollution, with nitrate concentrations in several locations exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water safety guidelines and two-thirds exceeding lower thresholds recognised as presenting health risks through long-term exposure. At peak contamination sites, chemical oxygen demand and phosphorus levels suggested direct influxes of livestock manure slurry or municipal wastewater. Nitrate contamination in drinking water has been linked by recent research to health risks like colorectal cancer and pre-term birth at levels far lower than the current WHO guideline. [3]

The Yucatán Peninsula karst aquifer is the world’s most extensive interconnected cave system and supplies drinking water to 5 million people in southeast Mexico. [4] However, the region’s highly porous karst limestone provides minimal filtration against surface pollutants, meaning agricultural runoff and swine manure slurry can migrate rapidly into the subterranean system, posing severe health risks and threatening fragile ecosystems.

The report highlights systemic regulatory failure, where over 90% of industrial pig megafarms operate illegally in the Yucatán peninsula without mandatory environmental impact assessments, driving deforestation and pollution. Dozens of these operations encroach directly on Protected Natural Areas and Indigenous Maya territories without free, prior, and informed consent from local communities, violating constitutional rights and destroying traditional livelihoods.

Greenpeace México is calling on Mexican authorities to enforce an immediate moratorium on new and expanding industrial livestock operations across the Yucatán Peninsula, prosecute illegal megafarms, and uphold the rights of Indigenous Maya communities.

ENDS

Notes:

Full report available here.

[1] Estrada-Medina, H., & Álvarez-Rivera, O. O. (2024). Distribución geográfica y características del medio físico natural de los ambientes kársticos de México. Acta Universitaria

[2] Carter et al, (2026) Establishing Methods to Monitor Swine Fecal Contamination of Surface Water, Drinking Water, and Settled Dust in Communities Neighboring Swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Yucatán, Mexico, 2022. Environmental Justice

[3] Evaluation of the parametric value for Nitrate in drinking water. Report delivered to the Ministry of Environment and Gender Equality of Denmark on November 24, 2025.

[4] Global Americans, ‘Tourism Boom, Water Bust: The Hidden Crisis Beneath the Maya Train’, 13 October 2023

Contacts:

Joe Evans, Global Comms Lead for Agriculture, Greenpeace UK, +44 7890 595387, joe.evans@greenpeace.org 

Sara Del Real, Oficial de Comunicación, Greenpeace México, +52 554084 5320, sdreal@greenpeace.org

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Greenpeace has raised new concerns that the next round of assessment reports from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) might not be completed in time for the next global stocktake of climate action.

The 65th Plenary Session of the IPCC was due to decide the timeline of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) in Addis Ababa last week, but the meeting ended without resolution. It is the sixth time since early 2024 delegates have been unable to agree on the timings of the critical three-part assessment report. The IPCC said its 65th Session and its deliberations on the pending agenda will resume at the earliest opportunity.[1][2]

Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director at Greenpeace International said: “This is another deeply frustrating setback in efforts to have the best and latest climate science available for governments at the next global stocktake. With rising emissions and escalating climate impacts, governments should be clearing the path for stronger action, not putting roadblocks in the way. It’s critical that they have the AR7 reports at their disposal to measure collective progress and accelerate action.”

The second global stocktake (GST2) of the Paris Agreement will conclude in 2028 and Greenpeace International is calling for all three AR7 working group reports to be published beforehand to help shape government decisions on mitigation, adaptation and finance.

IPCC assessments have unmatched authority on climate science, owing to the thousands of experts that work on them, exhaustive multi-stage review of published research and the consensus of member states. Aligning AR7 with the next global stocktake would build critical momentum for climate action in a world already facing 1.5°C overshoot. 

Tracy Carty, Climate Politics Expert at Greenpeace International said: “While concerns about equity and Global South representation must be addressed in this assessment cycle and beyond – missing the Paris Agreement’s global stocktake would compromise the very tool meant to keep the world on track and increase ambition. Delaying the science that communities who are already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis need, will not address legitimate concerns around equity and representation.

“But the existing science leaves no room for doubt that current action falls dangerously short, especially on phasing out fossil fuels, the primary driver of climate breakdown. A delayed IPCC assessment must not cost us critical time needed for urgent scaled up global action.”

Notes:

[1] IPCC: 65th Plenary Session of IPCC suspended
[2] Statement by the IPCC Chair Jim Skea on suspension of the 65th Plenary Session of the IPCC

Contact:

Aaron Gray-Block, Greenpeace International, Climate Politics Communications Manager, aaron.gray-block@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – A connected network of ocean sanctuaries in the Atlantic high seas would protect vital migration routes for leatherback turtles, shielding over 35% of danger zones they face from industrial fishing and reducing the vulnerable species’ risk of mortality, a new report from Greenpeace International shows.[1]

The report launches as a key UN biodiversity conference (CBD COP17) begins in Armenia today, where the first official assessment will be made of the progress towards globally agreed targets – including to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030, which scientists say is the minimum required to give the ocean a chance at recovery. Governments must urgently close the glaring gap between commitments and action. The new Greenpeace report reveals that the current rate of progress will take 265 years to fully protect 30% of the ocean.

Lukas Meus, Ocean Campaigner, Greenpeace International said: “This report reveals the snail’s pace of progress governments have made to protect our ocean. But creating networks of sanctuaries in the high seas would help governments meet global targets for ocean protection and make up for the lack of progress made by nations. If they don’t, there might not be any animals left to protect.

“Having a network of connected fully protected ocean sanctuaries would make sure that incredible migratory species like whales and turtles are protected along their journeys, free from the threat of being killed by industrial fishing or being struck by cargo ships along the way. This is the only way to allow them to travel, eat and breed safely.

“Delegates meeting in Armenia need to agree on big bold solutions to put them back on track. Our proposed network of sanctuaries is exactly the sort of solution governments urgently need to implement to have any hope of meeting biodiversity targets.”

The report makes a clear case for fully protected marine sanctuaries that would stop industrial fishing and reduce shipping traffic from within their boundaries. Many current marine protected areas still allow for destructive industrial fishing, which renders them useless at protecting biodiversity.

Leatherback turtles are one of the most threatened marine vertebrates on the planet, classified as vulnerable on the IUCN red list.[2] Currently, there are no fully or highly protected areas in the Atlantic High Seas, leaving nowhere free from the threat of industrial fishing. The new Greenpeace International report reveals that in 2025, industrial fishing vessels on the Atlantic high seas spent a shocking estimated 1.6 million hours fishing in total – equivalent to over 180 years.

Currently only 3.5% of the world’s ocean is fully or highly protected from destructive human activity.[3] The network proposed in the new report, ‘Well Connected’, would cover 31% of the Atlantic high seas, connecting several key biodiversity hotspots in international waters and also protect almost 45% of danger zones for humpback whales in the Atlantic high seas, significantly reducing their risk of ship strike. 

In the report, Greenpeace International identifies 17 sites that should be fully protected ocean sanctuaries under the Global Ocean Treaty, which would both significantly increase the overall area under protection and cover locations where migrating species face the greatest threats. These areas include existing marine protected areas (MPAs) – which must be upgraded to be fully protected – some sites already being explored by governments and a number of new sites to form a network of protected sanctuaries covering over 31% of the Atlantic high seas. 

ENDS 

Notes:

[1] Well Connected: Protecting the Atlantic High Seas through an ocean-wide sanctuary network. (Available in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Dutch.)

[2] Leatherback turtle listed as ‘vulnerable on IUCN red list

[3] Marine Conservation Institute MPA Atlas

• The report overlays leatherback turtle and humpback whale Atlantic migration routes, against areas of high bycatch risk and high ship strike risk respectively, to identify migratory ‘danger zones’ for these species. 
• The report identifies 17 sanctuary sites. One site includes all existing Atlantic high seas protected areas, which need to be upgraded to full protection. Five sites – the Sargasso Sea, Canary-Guinea Convergence Zone, Banana Hole, Walvis Ridge and Atlantic Equatorial Fracture Zone – are already being explored for protection by governments, scientists and NGOs. Of the remaining 11 newly identified sites, eight are already categorised as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs).
• This report uses the term ‘sanctuary’ to align with the standards of ‘fully’ or ‘highly’ protected MPAs as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It recommends banning industrial activity in protected areas.
• Creating big protected sanctuary networks will protect vital feeding and breeding grounds not only for whales and turtles, but also for over 800 other species that migrate through the ocean. Their survival depends on safety across entire migration pathways, rather than just in single isolated pockets. 
• Just 3.5% of the world’s ocean is fully or highly protected, meaning there’s a ‘marine protection gap’ of 26.5% that needs closing to reach 30%. In the 34 years since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, when countries initially agreed to establish networks of MPAs to safeguard marine biodiversity, fully and highly protected MPA coverage of the global ocean has increased by just 0.1% per year. At this rate, achieving the remaining 26.5% needed to fully protect 30% of the ocean would take the international community an estimated 265 years. 

Contacts:

Florri Burton, Global Media Lead, Oceans Are Life, Greenpeace Nordic, +44 (0) 7896523839, florri.burton@greenpeace.org
Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org 

At current rate it will take 265 years to reach crucial target to protect 30% of the ocean – but sanctuary networks could save it, Greenpeace report.

A connected network of ocean sanctuaries in the Atlantic high seas would protect vital migration routes for leatherback turtles, shielding over 35% of danger zones they face from industrial fishing and reducing the vulnerable species’ risk of mortality, a new report from Greenpeace International shows.

The network proposed in the new report would cover 31% of the Atlantic high seas, connecting several key biodiversity hotspots in international waters and also protect almost 45% of danger zones for humpback whales in the Atlantic high seas, significantly reducing their risk of ship strike. Governments must urgently close the glaring gap between commitments and action.

The report reveals that the current rate of progress will take 265 years to fully protect 30% of the ocean.

Download the Report:

WELL CONNECTED: Protecting the Atlantic High Seas through an ocean-wide sanctuary network – full report

Yerevan, Armenia – Greenpeace is demanding governments at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) move from simply recognising gaps and deliver strong, action-oriented decisions to prevent irreversible ecosystem collapse and biodiversity loss. Four years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), CBD COP17 will conclude the Convention’s first Global Review¹ of collective progress towards the framework’s goals and targets. 

An Lambrechts, Head of the Greenpeace delegation to CBD COP17 said: “We’re halfway to 2030 and the evidence is clear: we are far off track to reach the 30×30 targets. The systems that sustain life on Earth are under threat, and decisions made at COP17 must deliver a clear course correction to protect our planet’s ecosystems. This COP can’t become a mere entry in a vast log of destruction. Governments need to agree on concrete actions that tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss, increase finance and redirect money flows to where they are needed. But decisions in Yerevan will only matter if governments follow through at home. They cannot continue promising to protect nature while supporting its destruction through harmful subsidies and incoherent policies. Any more delay is a threat to our survival on the planet.”

Protecting and conserving at least 30% of land, and water by 2030 is one of the most visible targets of the KM-GBF. Yet the quality of protection matters as much as the area covered. Effective conservation must safeguard ecosystem integrity, prevent habitat loss and degradation, and recognise the rights and leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, whose territories and stewardship practices are essential to protecting biodiversity.

Nichanan Tanthanawit, Ocean Justice Campaign Global Project Lead said: “Protecting 30% of the planet by 2030 is not just a numerical target. Our ambition must be centered around justice, equity, and those who protect nature. Indigenous Peoples and local communities have cared for these lands and waters for generations, yet their knowledge, rights, and leadership are still too often overlooked. Governments must recognise Indigenous and Traditional Territories as distinct conservation systems, secure customary tenure rights, and provide direct funding for community-led solutions. We cannot call conservation a success if it is not grounded in the rights, realities, and leadership of the people on the forefront of nature protection.”

With all three Rio Conventions meeting in 2026, this year is also critical to strengthen cooperation and align action across biodiversity, climate and land use agendas. COP17 must help translate this momentum into coordinated action, with ecosystem integrity and human rights at the heart of decisions and implementation.

Camila Jardim, International Political Expert, Greenpeace Brazil said: “The world is moving towards a looming 1.5°C overshoot and the sixth mass extinction, with the human caused climate and biodiversity crises already severely impacting people all over the world. Those are not separate issues, but pieces of the same puzzle, and action is more urgent than ever. Governments can make the most impact with aligned policies to address both crises them together, with clear actions for the short, medium and long term. This is especially critical for primary forests, which are essential for both climate stability and biodiversity protection, and the Brazil-led roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 offers a real opportunity for strengthening synergies between conventions. Protection means tackling not only deforestation but also degradation, and ensuring that climate and biodiversity commitments reinforce each other rather than pull in different directions.”

Ahead of governments beginning discussions, Greenpeace activists deployed a hot air balloon in the historical village of Garni, Armenia, with the message “Delay is Destruction”.

Greenpeace is calling on governments at COP17 to:

• Address gaps in the implementation of the KM-GBF with concrete and forward-looking action;
• Increase finance from public sources, through aligning global and national economic and fiscal policies with the goals and targets of the KM-GBF, including removing harmful subsidies, tackling illicit financial flows and progressive environmental taxation to make nature destroyers pay;
• Ensure the quality of 30×30 protection and restoration, from the worlds’ forests to the high seas, by safeguarding ecosystem integrity, addressing drivers and respecting rights;
• Maximise synergies between biodiversity and climate policies and action globally and nationally.

ENDS

Photos and video: Photo and Video are available in the Greenpeace Media Library.

Notes

1. State of Biodiversity Action: The Global Report on collective progress | Convention on Biological Diversity 

Contacts:

Diego Gonzaga, Communications Lead at CBD COP17, Greenpeace International, +1 415 527 9440, dgonzaga@greenpeace.org

Jaqueline Sordi, Media Lead at COP17, Greenpeace International, +55 51 99678 9048, jsordi@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org.