Countries reached a historic deal on Monday to reverse decades of environmental destruction threatening the world's species and ecosystems, in what the UN chief hailed as "a peace pact with nature."

After the marathon COP 15 biodiversity summit in Montreal ran into the small hours, chair Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu, declared the deal adopted and banged his gavel, sparking loud applause.

"We are finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, hailing the accord.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the deal was a "foundation for global action on biodiversity, complementing the Paris Agreement for Climate."

And the United States hailed the outcome as a "turning point," voicing appreciation for the role of frequent adversary China. State Department spokesman Ned Price called the deal "sweeping and ambitious."

American President Joe Biden supports the deal and has launched his own "30 by 30" plan domestically, but the United States is not formally a party to the biodiversity convention because of opposition by Republicans in Congress.

After four years of fraught negotiations, more than 190 other states rallied behind the Chinese-brokered accord aimed at saving Earth's lands, oceans and species from pollution, degradation and the climate crisis.

"We have in our hands a package which I think can guide us all to work together to hold and reverse biodiversity loss, to put biodiversity on the path of recovery for the benefit of all people in the world," Huang told the assembly.

He overruled an objection from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had refused to back the text, demanding greater funding for developing countries.

- Biggest conservation deal ever -

The deal pledges to secure 30 percent of the planet as a protected zone by 2030, stump up $30 billion in yearly conservation aid for the developing world and halt human-caused extinctions of threatened species.

Environmentalists have compared it to the landmark plan to limit global warming to 1.5C under the Paris agreement, though some warned that it did not go far enough.

Brian O'Donnell of the Campaign for Nature called it "the largest land and ocean conservation commitment in history."

"The international community has come together for a landmark global biodiversity agreement that provides some hope that the crisis facing nature is starting to get the attention it deserves," he said.

"Moose, sea turtles, parrots, rhinos, rare ferns and ancient trees, butterflies, rays, and dolphins are among the million species that will see a significantly improved outlook for their survival and abundance if this agreement is implemented effectively."

The CEO of campaign group Avaaz, Bert Wander, cautioned: "It's a significant step forward in the fight to protect life on Earth, but on its own it won't be enough. Governments should listen to what science is saying and rapidly scale up ambition to protect half the Earth by 2030."

- Indigenous rights -

The text pledges to safeguard the rights of Indigenous people as stewards of their lands, a key demand of campaigners.

But observers noted it pulled punches in other areas -- for example, only encouraging businesses to report their biodiversity impacts rather than mandating them to do so.

The 23 targets in the accord also include saving hundreds of billions of dollars by cutting environmentally destructive farming subsidies, reducing the risk from pesticides and tackling invasive species.

- Funding fight -

At times, the talks looked at risk of collapsing as countries squabbled over money.

How much the rich countries will send to the developing world, home to most of the planet's biodiversity, was the biggest sticking point.

Developing countries had been seeking the creation of a new, bigger fund for aid from the Global North. But the draft text instead suggested a compromise: creating a fund under the existing Global Environment Facility (GEF).

That concern was echoed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the Congo Basin, a rich haven of biodiversity.

Current financial flows for nature to the developing world are estimated at around $10 billion per year.

A DRC delegate spoke up in the plenary to demand annual funding rise to $100 billion -- but Huang declared the framework passed, angering DRC's allies.

Things to know about global biodiversity agreement
Montreal (AFP) Dec 19, 2022 - After years of negotiations, the world has agreed a landmark deal to protect vanishing species and ecosystems.

Here are some of the strengths of the pact agreed at the UN meeting in Montreal called COP15, as well as where it fell short.

- '30 by 30' -

The cornerstone of the agreement is the so-called 30 by 30 goal -- a pledge to protect 30 percent of the world's land and seas by 2030 -- up from about 17 percent of land and seven percent of oceans currently.

The oceans target had reportedly been opposed by some countries but made it into the final text. Some experts had said 30 percent is a low aim, insisting that protecting 50 percent would be better.

- Indigenous rights -

Indigenous rights were addressed throughout the text, including in areas covered by the 30 by 30 pledge -- safeguarding Indigenous peoples' right to remain stewards of land they use and ensuring they are not subject to evictions in the name of conservation.

The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity praised the text for its "strong language on respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities."

- Funding -

The text approves the objective for rich countries to provide "at least US$20 billion per year by 2025, and ... at least US$30 billion per year by 2030," approximately double and then triple the current international aid for biodiversity.

Developing countries were seeking a new funding mechanism, but developed nations said it would take several years to create.

A halfway solution was adopted: a "trust fund" within an existing financial mechanism called the Global Environment Facility, as a stepping stone towards a new fund.

- Pesticides -

The accord prescribes efforts for "reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half."

Some delegates and campaigners had argued that the emphasis should be on overall pesticide "use" which is easier to measure. But specialists said some pesticides are powerful in small quantities so the emphasis should be on "risk."

- Genetic sequencing -

The framework demands people receive benefits from "genetic resources" originating in their countries: natural assets, such as medicine or cosmetic ingredients in plants, which may be sourced in a developing country but then have their genetic information mapped and shared with researchers and companies abroad.

The text calls on parties to "ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information" and "traditional knowledge" associated with them.

- Business -

Despite common fears of "greenwashing" at environment summits, several delegates and observers said businesses played a largely positive role at COP25. But some noted lacked a strong mandate for businesses to assess and report on their biodiversity impacts -- the accord instead merely urged countries to "encourage" them to do so.

Eliot Whittington, director of policy at the says Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, said the accord should "prompt a new mandatory disclosure framework for larger businesses... something the business community has supported vigorously at COP15."

- Milestones -

The document sets a mechanism for implementation of the deal, but it is less strict than the Paris climate agreement. Campaigners complained the COP15 text did not contain enough "milestones" for marking progress.

For example, the text says human-induced extinction of known threatened species must be halted, and, by 2050, the extinction rate of all species reduced tenfold -- but there aren't targets that countries must hit before that year.

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