The world's biggest nature protection conference opened in Colombia on Monday (Oct 21) with calls for urgent action and financing to reverse humankind's rapacious destruction of biodiversity. With about a million known species worldwide estimated to be at risk of extinction,

The UN biodiversity summit known as COP16 officially opened in Colombia on Monday, and hopes are high that negotiating countries can agree on a path forward to safeguarding the planet.

During this month's U.N. Biodiversity Summit, known as COP16, in the Colombian city of Cali, nearly 200 countries will be debating how they can save nature from the current rapid rate of destruction.