New
York Times: Although earlier last week, talks at the
United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity did not appear to be going well, by
early Saturday morning, delegates representing about 190
countries reached an ambitious agreement. Called the Nagoya
Protocol, it sets several goals: To cut the current extinction
rate by half or more by 2020; to increase the amount of
protected land to 17% from the current 12.5%, and protected
oceans to 10% from less than 1%; and to prevent resource
exploitation in developing countries by richer nations. Thomas
Lovejoy, who represented the United Nations Foundation at the
conference, said the agreement took “significant steps to
heal the living planet.”
