By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters), – The negotiations on an ambitious biodiversity agreement to halt and reverse the loss of nature came to an end in Switzerland Tuesday. Countries are expected to only agree to further talks in June.

Geneva was the final meeting for around 1000 negotiators representing 164 nations. This conference will be followed by the U.N. Conference on Biodiversity, which is being held in Kunming in China. There countries will ratify a treaty to save some 1,000,000 endangered species.

Although the framework could be considered the biodiversity equivalent to the 2015 Paris Climate Deal, campaigners lament the slow progress of talks. On Tuesday, they are likely to approve another round in Kenya in June. A document revealed.

Li Shuo, senior policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, said that the process is “on unstable ground”.

He said, “This has been an inefficient and disappointing process.”

The draft text was still to be finalised revealed that large portions of the 21 targets were in square brackets. It indicated that formal agreement had not been reached. According to the document, negotiators were not able to decide whether the primary mission was to halt and reverse biodiversity losses.

One delegate said, “It has been extremely frustrating,” as the confidential negotiating sessions make it difficult to identify.

Some others described long meetings lasting until the wee hours of the morning in the two-week period of talks. These were first meetings since COVID-19 was delayed.

Even though it was not formalised by the participants, there were positive outcomes. Participants agreed to protect 30% of global land- and sea area areas worldwide by 2030. One of the cochairs said that he was able to see support for the target from China’s president for the first time.

Participants have however called for China to be more ambitious, while others expressed frustration at the inconsistency of the Kunming summit timetable, as the Pandemic is causing a fourth delay.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment declined to comment on a request and Chinese officials refused an interview request.

Brian O’Donnell, Director of Campaign for Nature said that while they have been attentive to our requests, he hopes for greater engagement and ambition.

(Additonal reporting in Shanghai by David Stanway; editing by Barbara Lewis