AlHijjah 3, 1433, Oct 19, 2012, SPA -- Negotiators at a UN conference on biodiversity were struggling Friday to raise funds to meet previously stated goals of curbing species extinction and reducing habitat loss, dpa reported. Ministers from 80 countries were in talks on the final day of the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in India's southern city of Hyderabad. Governments from the previous conference held two years ago in Nagoya, Japan, had agreed on a strategic plan to reduce the rate of natural habitat loss, including forests, by 2020. But the plan has remained largely unrealized, with the Hyderabad conference focusing on finding the funding to meeting those goals. Estimates vary, but experts say between 200 billion to 550 billion dollars are required to achieve the targets. Conservation experts have however voiced scepticism that a large financial package could be brokered amid a global economic downturn. Rich countries have been under pressure by developing countries to boost financing for the biodiversity targets. Countries from the European Union have expressed willingness to double their contribution through 2015, observers at the meetings said, but the main opposition has come from Canada, Japan and Australia which are unwilling to commit more money. A number of decisions have been made at the conference, including a new global effort to support marine and coastal biodiversity, along with other protected wildlife areas, local media reported. -- SPA
