Democracy Dies in Darkness
Animals

Nations promise to protect 30 percent of planet to stem extinction

Delegates at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Canada made a major conservation commitment to try to halt the loss of hundreds of thousands of plants and animals. But it remains to be seen if nations will follow through.

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Updated December 19, 2022 at 4:19 a.m. EST|Published December 19, 2022 at 3:39 a.m. EST
A participant walks past a waterfall poster during the U.N. biodiversity conference (COP15) in Montreal on Sunday. (Lars Hagberg/AFP/Getty Images)
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MONTREAL — Close to 200 countries reached a watershed agreement early Monday to stem the loss of nature worldwide, pledging to protect nearly a third of Earth’s land and oceans as a refuge for the planet’s remaining wild plants and animals by the end of the decade.

A room of bleary-eyed delegates erupted in applause in the wee hours after agreeing to the landmark framework at the U.N. biodiversity summit, called COP15.