Ein a sentence, ten brackets, ten points of contention: like a reminder, Goal 18 of the draft for a global nature conservation agreement stands above the heads of the delegates, projected so big on the wall that it can also be read in the back of the hall. It’s day six of the UN Biodiversity Conference, time is ticking. The more brackets, the worse the chances of an agreement that can succeed for what more than ten thousand people from all over the world come together every day in a sober congress center in Montreal: to set a new course in dealing with nature; to ensure that the rapid loss of biodiversity is stopped and at some point seems like a crazy aberration – from a time when man believed to be able to use nature as if its resources were endless.
That’s the hope. There is no better place to understand how difficult it is to get there than in Room D 210, where delegates from the 196 signatory states are negotiating the framework agreement that is to be adopted on December 19. You can listen, but not write which country has opposed where. 22 targets, hundreds of brackets. Goal 18, which is due on Wednesday morning, touches on a key issue: funding for nature conservation.
