Delegates outraged after United Nations summit fails to address critical issue: 'The pace … did not reflect the urgency of the crisis'

Many delegates left the recent United Nations Biodiversity Conference frustrated, as it failed to achieve a consensus on nature funding.

What happened?

The conference failed in many areas, Euronews reported, with the logistics of how to fund and implement a major biodiversity treaty meant to protect 30% of nature left up in the air. Among other things, the delegates failed to come up with a strategy to raise money for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund and lacked consensus on how the fund's four goals and 23 targets will be monitored. They also ran out of time to approve the Convention on Biological Diversity budget for the next two years.

Delegates complained that vital issues were left until the final hours of the conference, and many governments left to catch flights as key negotiations continued.

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"The pace of … negotiations did not reflect the urgency of the crisis we are facing," said Catherine Weller, director of global policy at Fauna & Flora, per Euronews.

Why is this news important?

Scientists are warning that we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. For instance, 17% of the Amazon's forests have been lost and another 17% are degraded, according to the World Wildlife Fund's Living Amazon Report 2022. And in its Living Planet Report 2022, WWF revealed that wildlife populations across the globe have declined by an average of 69% in the past 50 years.

Diverse and intact ecosystems benefit humanity by providing clean air, fresh water, medicines, and food security, according to the World Health Organization. They also help to limit disease and stabilize the climate, the organization adds. For instance, 2022 research found that forests can keep Earth about half a degree cooler and some places more than a degree cooler.

Watch now: This simple device could save thousands of animals

What's being done about biodiversity loss?

As governments struggle to solidify international agreements, conservationists and everyday people continue to make a difference for wildlife and ecosystems across the globe. For instance, one family in New Hampshire donated 455 acres of open fields, forests, and wetlands for permanent conservation. Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is creating a genetic library of some of the nation's most at-risk wildlife. It hopes to study the samples and use the information it discovers to help guide conservation efforts.

A simple action you can take is to incorporate native plants in your garden, which helps support pollinators such as bees and butterflies.