After more than 4 years of negotiations, nearly 200 nations, including Oz, have signed a historic deal to protect and restore at least 30% of Earth’s ecosystems by 2030. The COP15 United Nations biodiversity summit in Montreal was considered the last chance to put nature back on track following warnings about the start of Earth’s 6th mass extinction event. The ‘30 by 30’ deal also includes a pledge to undertake urgent actions to halt human-caused extinctions of threatened species. The US and the Vatican were the only 2 holdouts, but others were also unhappy… A major sticking point was funding poorer nations’ conservation efforts, particularly in Africa. Disagreements aside, Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault called it “a moment that will mark history as Paris did for climate”.