Cop16 countries strike crucial deal on nature despite global tensions

Delegates from across the world have cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions. Rich and developing countries on Thursday hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia last year. Scientists have long warned that action is urgent. A million of the world's species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroy forests, deplete…