Southeast Asian nations missing from push to protect 30 per cent of planet

The pygmy elephants that live in the rainforests of Borneo are among the 18 per cent of the world's endangered species. - Starpic

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): A growing global push to safeguard nature by pledging to protect about a third of the planet's land and oceans by 2030 will fall short unless biodiversity-rich Southeast Asian nations get behind the ambitious proposal, environmentalists have warned.

Leaders of the G7 wealthy nations this month backed a coalition of about 60 countries that have already promised to conserve at least 30 per cent of their land and oceans by 2030 (30x30) to curb climate change and the loss of plant and animal species.