Delegates at a UN biodiversity conference in Canada are discussing new global targets for 2030 to replace ones that were adopted at a 2010 conference.

More than 190 countries and regions are participating in the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, which opened in Montreal last Wednesday.

Participants aim to adopt a new biodiversity framework to replace one adopted at the 2010 conference in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, or COP10.

Delegates at COP10 agreed on 20 targets for 2020, including protection of threatened species, but the UN released a report in 2020 that many of the goals were not met.

The main focus of the negotiations at the ongoing conference is whether the participants can agree on the "30 by 30" target, which aims to conserve at least 30 percent of the Earth's land and oceans by 2030.

A UN report shows that by August 2020, only about 15 percent of land and 7 percent of marine areas had been placed within protected and conserved areas.

Topics at the COP15 conference include funding for the conservation initiative, as well as the responsibilities that companies should fulfill to protect biodiversity.

Ministerial-level talks will start on Thursday. Arrangements are underway for Japan's Environment Minister Nishimura Akihiro to attend.

COP15 is scheduled to run through December 19.