Water scarcity and drought are set to wreak damage on a scale to rival the COVID-19 pandemic with risks growing rapidly as global temperatures rise, according to the United Nations.
New pledges by G7 leaders on climate change and biodiversity loss will boost efforts to strike a global pact to protect nature but an October deadline is likely to be missed without in-person talks, officials and observers say.
The world needs to restore nature on land areas equivalent to the size of China by 2030 if it is to feed a fast-growing population, curb pollution, halt species loss and meet global goals to tackle climate change, U.N. agencies say.
India will make public within 15 days details of a "cash for clunkers" scheme which would spur around 10 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) in new investment and create as many as 50,000 jobs.
Brazil's government under President Jair Bolsonaro is proposing the smallest budget for environmental protection in at least 13 years despite soaring destruction of the country's Amazon rainforest, according to data from non-profit Contas Abertas.
Brazil's main environmental enforcement agency, Ibama, handed out 20% fewer fines in 2020, a Brazilian non-profit factchecking initiative says, as the government rolls back conservation efforts and Amazon deforestation skyrockets.
Continuing large-scale deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region suggests a new government aim to become "carbon neutral" by 2060 lacks credibility, Brazilian scientists have said.
