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The world needs a single goal for fighting the loss of nature, much like the 1.5C target for climate change, according to conservation experts.

Extinctions of plants and animals should be kept well below 20 per year, they propose.

Last year, a UN report found that around one million species are now threatened with extinction.

Progress on biodiversity loss has been “far too slow, limited or ineffective,” said Prof Georgina Mace of UCL, London.

• Nature crisis: Humans ‘threaten 1m species with extinction’

Achieving the target should ensure that natural systems “continue to function and meet the needs of people and the rest of life on Earth”, she said.

The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on the critical balance between nature and people. Scientists have long warned…