London, Europe Brief News – Canada’s Montreal will host the delayed Cop15 biodiversity conference from 5 to 17 December.
The event has been delayed for two years amid fears momentum to halt biodiversity loss across the globe has been lost.
Fears had been building over the prohibitive cost for smaller countries to participate in Cop15 if it were held in China, along with concerns over restrictions on civil society, Indigenous groups and the press.
Steven Guilbeault, Montreal ‘s environment minister, said the country was proud to host the conference. “There is an urgent need for international partners to halt and reverse the alarming loss of biodiversity worldwide,” he said.
The once-a-decade nature summit will come after Cop27 in Egypt but clash with the World Cup in Qatar, prompting fears of a lack of attention and attendance by senior politicians and ministers, which was a key part of Cop26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The final global biodiversity framework agreement is likely to be negotiated in the hours before the World Cup final on 18 December.
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