<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Countries gathered at a UN meeting on biodiversity in Montreal were inching closer Sunday to a deal to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030 and to stump up $30 billion in yearly aid for the developing world to save their ecosystems.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fraught talks to seal a "peace pact for nature" came to a head as summit chair China presented a long-awaited compromise text that was cautiously welcomed by many, though some nations said more work was needed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The plan maps out action for the next decade to roll back habitat destruction, pollution and the climate crisis that scientists say threaten a million plant and animal species with extinction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It calls on wealthy countries to increase financial aid to the developing world to $20 billion annually by 2025, rising to $30 billion per year by 2030, while ensuring 30 percent of land and sea areas are effectively conserved and managed by the end of this decade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The text includes language safeguarding the rights of Indigenous people as stewards of their lands, a key demand of campaigners, but was watered down in other areas -- for example, only encouraging businesses to report their biodiversity impacts rather than mandating them to do so.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The draft still needs to be agreed upon by the 196 signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity before it is finalized.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Environmentalists say the "30 by 30" goal is the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The meeting, called COP15, is being held in Canada because of China's strict Covid rules.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Risk of pushback -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Six months ago, we didn't even know if we would have a COP this year, let alone a Paris moment for biodiversity, and that sincerely is where I think we're heading," said Canada's environment minister Steven Guilbeault in enthusiastic remarks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But European commissioner for environment Virginijus Sinkevicius struck a more cautious note, signaling that the funding figures being discussed could be problematic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we have other countries committing to fulfill those goals, such as China, I think that can be realistic," he said, also calling on Arab states to play their part.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Colombia's environment minister Susana Muhamad said she was "optimistic that the main goals have been landed," calling the draft an "important step forward."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Braulio Dias, however, speaking on behalf of the incoming Brazilian government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called for "better resource mobilization" -- technical speak for more aid to developing countries, a concern echoed by the Democratic Republic of Congo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conservation groups said the text was a mixed bag.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The draft text makes the largest commitment to ocean and land conservation in history," said Brian O'Donnell, of the Campaign for Nature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Georgina Chandler, of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said she was worried about a lack of numeric "milestones" for restoring ecosystems on the way to 2050.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We're basically not measuring progress until 28 years' time, which is madness," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Funding dispute -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Developing countries, spearheaded by Brazil, had been seeking the creation of a new fund to signal the Global North's commitment to the cause. But the draft text instead suggests a compromise: a "trust fund" within the existing mechanism, called the Global Environment Facility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Colombia's Muhamad said her country would accept this as a stopgap measure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The more than 20 targets also include cutting environmentally destructive farming subsidies, reducing pesticide use and tackling invasive species.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the issue of how much money the rich countries will send to the developing world, home to most of the planet's biodiversity, has been the biggest sticking point.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lower income nations point out developed countries grew rich by exploiting their natural resources and therefore demand to be paid well to protect their own.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Current financial flows for nature to the developing world are estimated at around $10 billion per year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Beyond the moral implications, there is the question of self-interest: $44 trillion of economic value generation -- more than half the world's total GDP -- depends on nature and its services. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>