MONTREAL (Reuters) – The Chinese government minister heading a global summit on biodiversity declared the approval of a global deal to protect nature on Monday despite objections from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which said it could not back the deal.
Chinese Minister of Ecology Huang Runqiu, who was chairing the meeting of the U.N.-backed COP15 Biodiversity Conference since China is the current president of the body, brought down the official gavel and declared a pending proposed deal passed, minutes after the Congolese representative expressed their objection.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)