Almost 200 countries have reached a landmark deal to protect nature at the United Nations biodiversity conference early on Monday, pledging to safeguard one third of the world’s land and oceans.
The global framework comes at the end of two weeks of negotiations held at the 15th Conference of Parties or Cop15 for biodiversity in Montreal, which was jointly chaired by Canada and China.
In a landmark moment, Chinese minister of ecology Huang Runqiu, who was chairing the meeting, brought down the official gavel and declared a pending proposed deal passed in the early morning on Monday.
Ministers and negotiators from almost 200 countries agreed to the final pact which has laid down a commitment to protect 30 per cent of land and water considered important for biodiversity by 2030.
Currently, only 17 per cent of terrestrial and 10 per cent of marine areas are protected.
“There has never been a conservation goal globally at this scale,” Brian O’Donnell, the director of the conservation group Campaign for Nature, told reporters.
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