Earth Equity News

U.N. Talks on Preserving Biodiversity Plagued with Issues Similar to Those of Climate Talks. By Chisa Fujioka, Reuters, 10/22/10. “A U.N. meeting to set targets to fight rising animal and plant extinctions inched on Friday toward agreement, but rich and poor countries remained split over details of a new framework on genetic resources… The meeting hopes to push governments and businesses into taking more action to protect and restore ecosystems such as forests that clean the air, insects that pollinate crops and coral reefs that nurture valuable fisheries. But negotiations have been plagued by the same mistrust between developed and developing countries that has bogged down U.N. talks on combating climate change, such as how to share the effort and who should pay. Developing nations in Nagoya have refused to sign up to 2020 conservation targets without agreement on a new U.N. protocol that would give them a fairer share of profits made by companies, such as pharmaceutical firms, from their genetic resources.”