![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c1_6282860.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOutspoken environment minister vents frustration even as his country bids to host one<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe United Nations biodiversity summit known as COP17 is in its second and final week in Armenia. (Photo: AFP)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
YEREVAN, Armenia – Despite campaigning to host the next COP nature summit, Panama\u2019s Environment Minister Juan Carlos Navarro has a blunt view of the UN-led negotiations he says are little more than \u201chypocrisy contests\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of what\u2019s going on out here at the COP is just a bunch of baloney and beautiful speeches and BS,\u201d Navarro told AFP as diplomats thronged the halls at the COP17 biodiversity summit underway in Yerevan, Armenia.<\/p>\n
It is an unorthodox message to broadcast as Panama bids against Ecuador to host the next edition of the biennial United Nations biodiversity negotiations in 2028.<\/p>\n
There are only two candidates for COP18 and the winner could be announced this week in Yerevan, where nearly 200 nations are trying to salvage a stalling deal to protect nature. (COP is UN-speak for \u201cConference of the Parties\u201d)<\/p>\n
Navarro, who has served in President Jose Raul Mulino\u2019s government since 2024, warned nobody should expect an easy ride if Panama ends up at the helm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to push them and shove them into action \u2014 and if not, then leave,\u201d said the veteran conservationist and one-time presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if the entire point of having the COPs is just blowing hot air, and in the meantime, let the planet burn, then why do it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018COPs designed to fail\u2019<\/p>\n
Navarro said that Panama wants to reform the consensus-based rules that allow \u201cone idiot\u201d to block agreement at the COP summits, proposing instead that decisions are taken by a majority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot have \u2014 we cannot expect \u2014 a consensus between every nation on Earth on every topic. That\u2019s ridiculous. COPs have been designed to fail, and they are not disappointing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also advocates for holding a single overarching UN conference \u201cbecause the Earth is one\u201d and the crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution cannot be tackled in isolation.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Navarro has been active in Yerevan promoting Panama\u2019s hosting bid as a decision looms, eagerly shaking hands and passing around business cards made of biodegradable pulp.<\/p>\n
He pointed to Panama\u2019s campaign for a UN declaration recognising the universal rights of nature, and its efforts at home to boost ranger numbers roughly seven-fold to ensure its national parks were genuinely protected.<\/p>\n
Navarro praised those countries making a \u201cgreat sacrifice\u201d to safeguard their threatened ecosystems \u2014 but said not enough were following their lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just makes my blood boil, because while we fiddle, Rome burns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if the parties so decide \u2014 and they come to Panama \u2014 they better be prepared for action and immediate results on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outspoken environment minister vents frustration even as his country bids to host one The United Nations biodiversity summit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[297057,297052,242,297059,297056,85,46,297053,297058,141,297054,297055],"class_list":["post-660201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-biodiversity-summit-reform","tag-cop17-biodiversity-summit","tag-environment","tag-environmental-policy-action","tag-global-conservation-strategy","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-panama-biodiversity-policy","tag-panama-hosting-bid","tag-science","tag-united-nations-environmental-negotiations","tag-yerevan-climate-talks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}