Brazil accused of holding up UN biodiversity talks
Source: The Guardian
Brazil accused of holding up UN biodiversity talks
Objection to virtual meetings threatens next years conference in China, say environmental campaigners
Jonathan Watts
@jonathanwatts
Fri 20 Nov 2020 17.46 GMT
Brazil has been accused of obstructing global efforts to protect nature following a row over the use of virtual meeting technology to overcome Covid-19 restrictions.
The dispute threatens a key United Nations conference in Kunming, China, next year, which aims to set new targets to protect the Earths natural life support systems.
Environmental campaigners said the worlds forests and wildlife cannot afford any delay and accused Brazil home to the worlds biggest rainforest of disrupting negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the same way that Saudi Arabia the worlds biggest oil producer has held up progress in climate talks.
Frustrations reached a pitch on Thursday, when the president of the CBD announced the suspension of budget talks due to an objection by Brazil.
The main issue of contention was a reference to online negotiations in the 2021 budget.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/20/brazil-accused-of-holding-up-un-climate-talks