Xinhua
Berlin, May 29 (Xinhua) Germany has pledged to provide 500 million euros (about $780 million) over the next four years to help in the protection of world’s forests and other habitats. This was announced Wednesday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a high-level meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn.

Merkel said Germany would increase its funds for forest protection to 500 million euros annually from 2013.

“I am convinced we need a complete change of course in the preservation of species,” she said.

The ninth conference of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity opened in Bonn May 19 to discuss an agreement on protecting diverse species threatened by climate change and pollution.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the delegates to the conference have set an agenda for further discussions in an attempt to reach a global agreement on saving biodiversity.

A binding biodiversity treaty is scheduled to be negotiated in Japan in 2010.
Xinhua