"TOKYO -- Delegates from more than 190 countries struggled Friday to break a deadlock on setting ambitious goals to preserve animals, plants and ecosystems, raising the prospect that the two-week U.N. meeting might end in failure.

The biggest sticking point, participants said, was a division between developing and industrial nations over working out a system to fairly share in genetic resources, such as medicine extracted from plants -- long a sore point for poorer countries.

Delegates at the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity meeting, held in Nagoya, southwest of Tokyo, have agreed on 16 of 20 strategic goals for 2020, attendees said, but have failed to reach consensus on the most contentious targets, including how much ocean space to set aside as protected.

Government ministers gathered Friday afternoon to try to hammer out final agreements and avoid the kind of collapse that befell last year's U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. Attendees predicted the talks would extend into the night."

The Associated Press had the story October 29, 2010. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Optimism Surrounds Un Biodiversity Talks" (Australian ABC) [3]

"Nature Talks Heading for Success, Delegates Say" (BBC News)
[4]
"Grim News on Animal Extinction Threat Greeting Japan Biodiversity Summit" (Los Angeles Times) [5]

"World Bank Calls for Ecosystems To Be Valued" (AFP) [6]