UN Biodiversity Summit Postponed To April 2022

An "official" virtual opening of the COP15 meeting hosted by China will take place in mid-October this year

The face-to-face portion of a critical UN biodiversity summit originally slated for last year will be delayed until April 2022, UN officials said Wednesday, citing the Covid pandemic. An "official" virtual opening of the COP15 meeting hosted by China will take place in mid-October this year, followed by face-to-face negotiations in southern China's Kunming from April 25 to May 8, 2022. Campaigners have for years called for an effective global agreement on halting biodiversity loss, similar to what the Paris Agreement lays out for climate change. With more than one million species facing extinction and the world failing to meet existing nature preservation targets, the need for an accord among the nearly 200 nations taking part in the talks is pressing.