Biodiversity Law and Governance Day 2026: an online symposium during CBD COP17

From 19 to 30 October 2026, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meet for their 17th Conference (COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia. During the conference, on Saturday 24 October 2026, the Biodiversity Law and Governance Day 2026 (BLGD 2026) runs as a full day online – open to participants in Vietnam who register.

Why it is worth following

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) is moving from global commitments to national and local action. The question is no longer “what are the targets” but “which laws, institutions and accountability mechanisms make them happen”. BLGD 2026 brings together legal and policy experts, government representatives, negotiators, Indigenous Peoples and local community representatives, academics, youth and civil society to share solutions and implementation experience.

The programme combines high-level plenaries, expert panels, legal roundtables and the presentation of the 2026 Global Biodiversity Law & Governance Leadership Awards, around four themes:

1. Implementing the KMGBF through law and governance – legal reform, institutional coordination, customary law, rights-based approaches and environmental justice.
2. Area-based conservation, OECMs and rights-based approaches – so that KMGBF Target 3 means not just more conserved area but effective, equitable governance, on land and at sea.
3. Access and benefit-sharing (ABS), digital sequence information (DSI) and emerging technologies – the Nagoya Protocol, traditional knowledge and genetic resources.
4. Biodiversity finance, capacity-building and implementation partnerships – public and private finance, new financial mechanisms, nature markets, integrity and accountability.

Why it matters for Vietnam

These themes sit close to the field problems GLC works on through its Living Labs: marine and coral-reef conservation in Côn Đảo, mangroves and circular agriculture in the Mekong Delta, tourism waste in Phú Quốc. In each place, conservation outcomes depend on governance, community rights and finance – exactly what BLGD 2026 will discuss.

How to join

• When: Saturday 24 October 2026, 14:30–24:00 Vietnam time (11:30–21:00 Yerevan time).
• Format: online, in English. The programme runs for 9 hours 30 minutes – join the sessions that interest you.
• Organisers: the Biodiversity Law and Governance Initiative (BLGI), with a Programme Committee led by experts from Yerevan State University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Costa Rica and Asia Pacific University; tickets are issued by the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL).
• Register: on the Eventbrite event page, open until 16:00 Vietnam time on 24 October.

If you attend, note what stands out and share it with the GLC community – we will pull the takeaways together after the event.

Header image: the Ucayali River winding through the Amazon rainforest of central Peru, seen from the International Space Station. Image: NASA.