CALI, Colombia (AP) — At the United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia, negotiators have struggled to find common ground on key issues.These include how to finance protections for 30% of the world’s plants and animals by 2030, how to establish a permanent body for Indigenous peoples and how to make payments for nature’s genetic data that’s used to create commercial products.The two-week conference, known as COP16, was due to wrap up Friday, although observers say negotiations could go into the weekend.In 2022, the biodiversity summit in Montreal, COP15, established a framework for countries to go about saving plummeting global ecosystems. This year’s follow-up summit was to put plans into motion.”COP15 was all about the ‘what’; this was supposed to be about the ‘how,’” Georgina Chandler, head of policy and campaigns at The Zoological Society of London, told The Associated Press.Wealthy nations pledged in Montreal’s summit to raise $20 billion in annual conservation financing for developing nations by 2025 — with that rising to $30 billion annually by 2030.“I don’t think we’ve seen governments come here with increased commitments towards the $20 billion significant enough that we’re going to achieve that,” Chandler said. “That’s fallen a bit short.”The lack of financial pledges from wealthy countries prompted 20 ministers …
