Participants at a United Nations conference say representatives have reached agreements to protect at least 17 per cent of land areas and 10 per cent of oceans by 2020.

Overcoming divisions between rich and poor countries, delegates to the 10th meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity also agreed on a system to share access to and the benefits of genetic resources — a key sticking point.

The agreements were reached in the early hours Saturday morning in Nagoya, southwest of Tokyo, after hours of debate in the final session of two weeks of talks. For Complete story >>

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