COP16: What’s at stake at the UN biodiversity conference

The UN’s 16th annual conference on biodiversity – COP16 – kicks off Monday in Columbia with the world’s pledges to halt humankind’s destruction of nature put to the test. Building on pledges made at last year’s conference, the near 200 participating countries now have to define a common framework to help meet biodiversity targets, namely placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under minimum protection by 2030.