Saving nature can 'unite world', countries told at rebooted UN talks
The Hindu
Global nature protection talks aim to unite nations to sustain life on Earth amid funding disputes and geopolitical challenges.
Global talks to protect nature restarted Tuesday with a call for humanity to come together to "sustain life on the planet" and overcome the deep divisions that caused a previous meeting last year to end in disarray.
More than two years after a landmark deal on nature -- including a pledge to protect 30 percent of the world's land and seas by 2030 -- nations continue to haggle over the money needed to reverse destruction that scientists say threatens a million species.
Negotiators meeting at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome this week are tasked with breaking a deadlock on funding between rich and developing countries that saw COP16 talks in Cali, Colombia break up without agreement in November.
The talks come at a moment of geopolitical upheaval with countries facing a range of challenges from trade tensions and debt worries to the war in Ukraine.
The re-election of US President Donald Trump is also casting a shadow, despite Washington not having signed up to the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity.
The mission to protect nature "has the power to unite the world", said COP16 president Susana Muhamad.
"And this is not something small in this very polarised, fragmented, divisive and conflicting geopolitical landscape," the Colombian environment minister added.
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