Biodiversity deal agreed months after failed COP16 talks in Colombia

Months after the collapse of the COP16 biodiversity conference, the world’s nations have salvaged a funding deal to protect nature.

Species around the globe are increasingly threatened: Scientists warn of the Earth’s “sixth mass extinction.”

In 2022 countries agreed to protect 30% of the world’s land and seas in an attempt to halt the decline, but negotiations broke down at last year’s meeting in Colombia over how to raise the $200 billion needed.

Delegates reconvened in Rome this week and after three days of tense negotiations managed to agree a plan. Activists were pleased but wary, saying they wanted to see money delivered, not just pledged, while the US was absent from the talks.