‘The biggest meeting for humanity’: Why Cop15 has to succeed

Negotiators from around the world have landed in Montreal, Canada
for the UN’s biodiversity conference, Cop15. The summit has been
called an “unprecedented” opportunity for turning the tide on
nature loss and comes at a critical time: a million species are at
risk of extinction and wildlife populations have plunged by an
average of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Madeleine Finlay speaks to
the director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Prof
Alexandre Antonelli, about the current state of the planet’s
biodiversity, what needs to be achieved at Cop15 and how he’s
feeling about the possibility of change.. Help support our
independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod