Nearly 200 Countries Agree to Conserve 30% of Planet for Nature at UN Summit

Representatives from almost 200 nations agreed to set a target of conserving 30% of the Earth’s surface for nature by 2030 at the United Nations’ COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada.  

Key Facts: The global targets for 2030 also included investing at least $200 billion per year from both public and private sources, eliminating at least $500 billion per year in subsidies harmful to biodiversity, restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems, reducing risk from pesticides by at least 50%, and reducing the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50%. The countries also set a goal of stopping the extinction of known species and reducing the extinction risk of all species to 10% of current levels. 

For Context: While the agreement is not a guarantee that targets will be met, it represents a major commitment, with some officials comparing it to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. However, the United States could not join the agreement because it is not a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which congressional Republicans have blocked. Species and ecosystems face mounting challenges worldwide; recent studies have found that North America has lost about 29% of its birds since 1970, with one in eight bird species facing extinction worldwide. 

How the Media Covered It: While coverage was common in major left and center-rated outlets Monday morning, it was mostly absent from right-rated outlets, which tend to focus less on international stories. Many headlines called the agreement “historic,” sometimes quoting diplomats who used the same language.