Governments to thrash out crucial biodiversity strategy at Cop15 conference

Former Irish president Mary Robinson last month urged world leaders to take the Cop15 summit more seriously, with the perception that it has not received the same recognition as the Cop climate change summits. File picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Ireland will send a delegation including Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan to a UN biodiversity summit in Canada this month that has been described as a potential Paris Agreement for nature.

The Cop15 event in Montreal is expected to see countries from around the world thrash out new agreements on nature and biodiversity, which is going through an unparalleled modern crisis, with around a million species under threat of extinction.