Turkiye withdraws as host of Cop16, blaming February’s earthquakes

Debris removal efforts continue after devastating earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Hatay, on April 06, 2023. [ Metin Aktaş – Anadolu Agency]

Turkiye has withdrawn from hosting the United Nations’ Cop16 biodiversity summit in 2024, citing three large earthquakes in February that devastated parts of the country, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the UN convention on biological diversity announced that Turkiye had withdrawn due to “a force majeure situation”, inviting other countries to offer to host the conference. It is hoped the scheduled dates – 21 October to 1 November – will not change.

France, the UK, Switzerland and Spain are all possible replacement destinations for the conference, where governments will discuss how they are meeting targets to protect 30 per cent of land and sea, reform $500bn of environmentally damaging subsidies and restore 30 per cent of the planet’s degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems.

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