Nearly 190 countries have reached an agreement at a United Nations biodiversity summit to protect the world's biodiversity, namely — about 30% of the land and marine areas by 2030.
The two-week-long Conference of Parties (COP-15) summit ended in Montreal, Canada on Monday. It was previously supposed to be held in China, but moved to Canada due to the COVID situation in the country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed the deal, saying: "We are finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature," while Canada's Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, termed the deal as "truly a moment that will mark history as Paris did for the climate."
According to United Nations Environment Programme, 17% of the land and 10% of marine areas are currently under protected status.
The major takeaways include:
Maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystems, halting species extinction and maintaining genetic diversity.
"Sustainable use" of biodiversity - essentially ensuring that species and habitats can provide the services they provide for humanity, such as food and clean water.
Signatories aim to ensure $200 billion per year is channelled to conservation initiatives from public and private sources. Wealthier countries should contribute at least $20 billion of this annually by 2025 and at least $30 billion annually by 2030.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is home to lush tracts of rain forests, raised concern about the failrue of developed countries to launch a new fund for biodiversity.
The countries are expected to submit national reports to check up on the progress indicators in late by February 2026 and June 2029.