‘Sleepwalking through extinction’: China urged to end delays to Cop15 summit

Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays

China has been urged to name a date for a key UN nature summit this year, amid growing frustration with Beijing and concerns among experts that we are sleepwalking through this cataclysmic climate extinction".

After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for Cop15 in late April to negotiate this decade's targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction of ecosystems and wildlife crucial to human civilisation. It had been hoped the summit would be a Paris moment" for biodiversity, with China holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time.