World lags on 2030 nature goals headed into UN COP16 talks

World leaders struggle to meet ambitious biodiversity goals set in 2022, facing funding challenges at COP16 summit.

The world in 2022 reached its most ambitious deal ever to halt the destruction of nature by decade's end.

Two years later, countries are already behind on meeting their goals.

As nearly 200 nations meet on Monday for a two-week U.N. biodiversity summit, COP16, in Cali, Colombia, they will be under pressure to prove their support for the goals laid out in theKunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement.

A top concern for countries and companies is how to pay for conservation, with the COP16 talks aiming to develop new initiatives that could generate revenues for nature.

"We have a problem here," said Gavin Edwards, director of the nonprofit Nature Positive.

"COP16 is an opportunity to re-energize and remind everybody of their commitments two years ago and start to course correct if we're going to get anywhere close to 2030 targets being achieved," Edwards said.

The rate of nature destruction through activities like logging or overfishing has not let up, while governments miss deadlines on their biodiversity action plans and funding for conservation is billions of dollars away from meeting a 2025 goal.