ASSOCIATED PRESS • December 18, 2022
There were signs Sunday that negotiators were closing in on a deal at a U.N. conference that would protect nature and provide financing to set up protected areas and restore degraded ecosystems. China, which holds the presidency at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, released a draft deal that calls for protecting 30 percent of the most important global land and marine areas by 2030. Currently, 17 percent of terrestrial and 10 percent of marine areas are protected. The draft also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature.