- Unfulfilled talent? Two-time champion Alonso clocks up 400th F1 race
- Guardiola praises 'incredible' mentality of Man City stars
- Chelsea boss Maresca wants more 'leadership' from captain James
- Drone sparks fire on Kyiv residential building, one dead
- Gaza ministry says two children die in hospital in Israeli raid
- Wood brace fires Forest as Leicester boss Cooper loses reunion
- Dodgers draw on Bryant's 'Mamba mentality' for World Series
- 'Fascist' row overshadows glitzy night on US campaign trail
- Modern art museum breathes new life into downtown Warsaw
- Russell tops crash-hit Mexico GP practice
- Fils, Shelton set for friendly fire in Basel semi-finals
- Internet blackout hits Mozambique capital after election protests
- Yankees, Dodgers poised for World Series blockbuster
- 'Catfish' predator who drove US girl to suicide jailed for life in N.Ireland
- NASA astronaut hospitalized after return from ISS
- Biden apologizes for Native American boarding school atrocities
- Mexico rules out designating drug violence as 'terrorism'
- Boeing exploring sale of space business: report
- G20 affirms commitment to transition from fossil fuels
- Shami misses India's tour of Australia as Easwaran named as potential Rohit cover
- 75 sickened as McDonald's severe E. Coli outbreak expands
- Turkmenistan's 'Gateway to Hell' lit gas pit faces closure
- Kickboxing takes Senegal by storm despite tight funds
- Waymo ramps up robotaxi push with $5.6 bn in funding
- Elon Musk all-in for Trump as Moscow denies secret Putin talks
- Covid lessons learned? UN summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans
- Borthwick unveils new contracts for leading England players
- Sexual assault scandal rocks Spain's 'most feminist' govt
- France must make 'credible' progress on deficit: finance minister
- BHP, Vale agree to pay $30bn compensation for Brazil dam disaster
- Verstappen says 'definitely' his intention to remain at Red Bull
- Mbappe can launch Madrid career in first Clasico
- A monumental dump and Obama the rapper: an offbeat US campaign week
- Biden to apologize for abusive Native American boarding schools
- Pressure is part of manager's life, says troubled West Ham boss Lopetegui
- Gaza ministry says Israel forces detaining hundreds at hospital
- Hirscher confirms return from retirement at World Cup opener
- IMF raises concerns about effects of Sudan conflict on neighbors
- Seoul slams Russian treaty with N. Korea, Zelensky urges 'tangible pressure'
- De Zerbi hails Greenwood as Marseille await Paris Saint-Germain
- Under-fire Ten Hag blames injuries for derailing Man Utd
- Wounded Arsenal must show 'ruthless mentality' against Liverpool: Arteta
- Howe challenges Newcastle stars to step up
- UK's Labour govt prepares to unveil its first budget
- Guardiola backs Man City's Foden to emerge from slump
- Pakistan judicial reforms see next top judge passed over
- Germany promises more visas for Indians during Scholz visit
- Postecoglou says hype will not affect teenage star Moore
- PSG reject league order to pay Mbappe 55 mn euros in back pay
- Olympic champion Zheng finds mojo to reach Tokyo semis
UN biodiversity summit making 'very good progress': officials
Crunch UN talks on ways to "halt and reverse" species loss by 2030 have made "very good progress," officials said Friday, as the summit in Colombia marked its halfway point.
The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity opened Monday in the city of Cali, and runs to November 1.
Themed "Peace with Nature," it has the urgent task of coming up with monitoring and funding mechanisms to achieve 23 UN nature protection goals agreed in Canada two years ago.
COP16 president Susana Muhamad, environment minister of Colombia, said Friday there had been "very good progress in the negotiations," adding "a lot of work has advanced during this week."
Resource mobilization remains "one of the most difficult issues," she told reporters in Cali, "because of the very different views from parties."
On Sunday, UN chief Antonio Guterres had urged the 196 signatories to the biodiversity convention to "convert words into action" and fatten a Global Biodiversity Framework Fund created last year to meet the UN targets.
So far, countries have made about $250 million in commitments to the fund, according to monitoring agencies.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework finalized in 2022, countries must mobilize at least $200 billion per year by 2030 for biodiversity, including $20 billion per year by 2025 from rich nations to help developing ones.
A key goal of the Cali COP is to agree on a mechanism for sharing the profits of genetic information taken from plants and animals -- for medicinal use for instance -- with the communities they come from.
On this issue, Muhamad said, "the parties are coming together into a common vision."
About 23,000 delegates, including nearly 180 government ministers and seven heads of state, are accredited for what is the largest-ever biodiversity COP.
With about a million known species worldwide estimated to be at risk of extinction, delegates have their work cut out.
There are only five years left to achieve the target of placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.
"The reason why we are here today is because we understand that we are losing biodiversity at a speed that is unsustainable," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.
"Progress in Cali will give impetus" to the process going forward, she added.
X.Brito--PC