Governments gather in Canada in bid to boost biodiversity

BOSTON (AP) — Amid warnings that biodiversity is in freefall, environmental leaders will gather in Montreal to hammer out measures aimed at shoring up the world's land and marine ecosystems and coming up with tens of billions of dollars to fund these conservation efforts.

Delegates from about 190 countries will assemble for nearly two weeks, starting Wednesday, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, to finalize a framework for protecting 30% of global land and marine areas by 2030. Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.

The proposed framework also calls for reducing the rate of invasive species introduction and establishment by 50%, cutting pesticide use in half and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste.

The goals — more ambitious than earlier ones that have mostly gone unmet — are expected to be at the heart of the meeting debate. But not far behind will be the issue of finance, with developing countries likely to push for significant monetary commitments before signing onto any deal.

The draft framework calls for raising $200 billion or 1% of the world's GDP for conservation by 2030. Another $500 billion annually would come from doing away with the politically-sensitive issue of subsidies that make food and fuel cheaper in many places.

“The world is crying out for change, watching if governments seek to heal our relationship with the nature, with the planet,” Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, said at a November news conference. "The current state of biodiversity is dire with the loss of biodiversity at unprecedented levels in our history.”

The United Nations conference comes less than a month after countries gathered to tackle climate change, agreeing...