"MONTREAL - Delegates from dozens of developing nations walked out of crunch financing talks overnight at the U.N. COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal, citing a lack of compromise from wealthy countries as negotiations intensify to agree a new global nature pact.

Several sources said representatives of about 70 countries - mostly African states but also including Argentina and Brazil - left the meeting at about 1 a.m. in protest over a perceived lack of progress on funding for nature protection efforts worldwide.

Most of these governments had earlier joined forces at COP15 to call for a new dedicated biodiversity fund, saying that "existing multilateral (funding) sources" are not up to the task of implementing any deal that is struck at the conference.

David Ainsworth, a spokesman for the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) - which is running the summit - confirmed the walkout to journalists on Wednesday morning."

Jack Graham reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation December 14, 2022. [2]

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"The World Is Struggling To Figure Out Conservation. First Nations Have Some Ideas." (Grist) [6]

"Rich Nations Oppose New Biodiversity Fund" (AFP) [7]

"The 30 Percent Goal: Is Bigger Always Better for Biodiversity?" (YaleE360) [8]