2022: the year rewilding went mainstream – and a biodiversity deal gave the world hope | Max Benato

Cop15's long-awaited agreement will be closely watched, says the Guardian's biodiversity editor, but it was by no means the only positive nature news, despite the heartbreaking ravages of avian flu

After 12 years, two years of Covid-related delays and two weeks of intense negotiation in Montreal, the world finally got it its once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of nature. Many lauded this month's agreement at Cop15 in Montreal as historic"; many are hopeful that its ambition can be achieved; and many are concerned about whether action will meet words: not one of the last set of targets, set in Japan in 2010, was met in full.

But the fact that nearly 200 countries were able to sign off on an international agreement to halt the loss of biodiversity is something to applaud. Few thought it would happen. Now it is all about the implementation. With an estimated 1 million species at risk of extinction and a 69% average plunge in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018, we must not pause for a second", warned the UN's environment chief, Inger Andersen.