United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda

United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda.

As the COP16 biodiversity negotiations resume in Italy on Tuesday, scientists are expressing their amazement at the setbacks affecting nature conservation, but are trying to fight back with what they have.

Rich and poor countries are battling over who will fund nature conservation in the shadow of a radically anti-green U.S. administration.

WWF warns that if countries heading to Rome for the resumed UN biodiversity conference (COP16.2) cannot agree on a way forward on finance, it will be a major setback for the Global Biodiversity Framework, with critical fundraising efforts hampered to implement the targets – just five years away from the deadline.

Moves by Trump to nix development funding have cast a shadow over the discussions and put pressure on attendees, even though the world’s biggest economy wasn’t a formal signatory to the efforts