France, Aug. 14 -- Four years ago, nearly all the world's countries agreed to protect 30 percent of the planet's land and seas by 2030, while wealthy nations pledged to provide developing countries with $30 billion (€26 billion) a year to help safeguard biodiversity.

But Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, said progress was still too slow to meet those goals.

"Implementation is not yet happening at the pace and scale needed to achieve [the targets]," Schomaker said in a statement, following nearly three weeks of preparatory negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya.

Representatives from the 196 countries that agreed to the biodiversity framework are due to meet in the Armenian capi...