Yerevan (AFP) – Political tensions are mounting in the final days of the United Nations biodiversity talks with a handful of countries accused of trying to weaken the science that underpins global nature policy.
The growing feud over the role of science has alarmed veteran negotiators and follows recent efforts by fossil fuel-reliant nations to delay reports by the IPCC, the global authority on climate change.
"The same thing is happening here as what is taking place with the IPCC," said a French government delegate at the COP17 summit in Yerevan, Armenia. The delegate requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
The delegate said four countries -- Saudi Arabia, Russia, Argentina and Brazil -- were frustrating progress.
The pushback is directed at two scientific assessments by the UN-backed IPBES biodiversity panel on the overlap between the nature and climate crises and the economic forces driving them.
Nearly 200 nations were due to agree how these landmark findings should guide efforts to protect nature but some countries "did not want to acknowledge them", the French delegate added.
A negotiator from another developed nation told AFP these four countries were also leading this push.
"There is a clear alliance of Russia, Saudi, Argentina and, to some extent, Brazil all working together to try to water down IPBES reports, not welcome them, or use them as bargaining chips in other negotiation items," the negotiator said on condition of anonymity.
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