Explained | What the world's nature-rich nations want out of a global conservation deal

Governments are trying to work out a new global agreement to guide conservation and wildlife protection through 2030

Tangled expanses of Amazon rainforest, high mountains of the Himalayas, and cloud-shrouded forests are just some of the unique landscapes contained within the world's most nature-rich nations. And protecting these ecosystems, experts say, could help save the planet.

Governments are trying to work out a new global agreement to guide conservation and wildlife protection through 2030 at a U.N. summit in Montreal this week. Of the nearly 200 countries assembled, five are considered to be among the world's most biodiverse nations — measured in the number of unique species.

Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Colombia boast more than 131,000 plant species, around 6,000 birds, and nearly 3,000 mammals between them, according to data compiled from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, BirdLife International and the U.N. Environment Programme. That's more than a third of all the world’s flowering plants, and more than half of all bird and mammal species on Earth.

Still, that's not necessarily enough to garner them any special treatment in the talks, experts said, which run on a consensus basis meaning all parties must agree.

"Biodiversity in every country matters, so we don't want to say that Brazil's biodiversity is worth more than, say, Mongolia," said Alfred DeGemmis, an international policy expert with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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However, "there is a need to listen to those countries who will have significant responsibilities when it comes to biodiversity in the finance space," he said, noting that countries with a lot of nature are the ones that will have to implement any new deal.