China pledges $230 million for biodiversity fund at UN meet

By KEN MORITSUGU
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China is pledging $230 million to establish a fund to protect biodiversity in developing countries and asking other countries to contribute. President Xi Jinping made the pledge at a U.N. conference in southwest China that began global talks on protecting the world’s plants and animals from extinction. Another session next year will try to agree on targets for the next 10 years. The world failed to reach most of the 10-year goals that were set at the last conference. Environmental group Greenpeace says countries need to focus on not just setting new targets but also meeting them. Other leaders who spoke to the conference on Tuesday included Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Papua New Guinea’s James Marape and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.