Nations ask for new nature talks in Nairobi before key UN meeting

Countries have proposed to hold an extra biodiversity meeting in Nairobi in June as talks in Geneva tasked with saving nature entered their final day without an agreement.

Negotiators from across the world are meeting in Geneva to thrash out details of a sweeping plan to "live in harmony with nature" up until mid-century, with key milestones in 2030.

But after two years of pandemic delay, negotiations are trying to pack in both technical scientific work as well as high-level policy negotiations.

Delegates have concluded they need more time to agree on a draft text set to be adopted at the United Nations COP15 meeting in Kunming, China later this year.

In a document uploaded on the conference website, dated Monday, countries suggest holding a new meeting in the Kenyan capital between June 21 and 26 to "continue negotiations" on the document and other issues.

The decision is subject to official approval by the Geneva meeting before it wraps up later today.

Conservation groups hope the COP15 can reinvigorate efforts to halt the devastation of the world's nature, after countries failed to meet almost all of their biodiversity goals for the last decade.

© Agence France-Presse