UN’s COP15 biodiversity summit in limbo as Omicron uncertainty threatens date

Question marks hang over a summit in China viewed as critical to protecting the Earth’s plant and animal life, with its planned date in doubt because of the pandemic.

Chinese environment ministry spokesman Liu Youbin said on Monday that the second phase of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), which was supposed to be held in April and May in the southwestern city of Kunming, was likely to be delayed.