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The draft deal calls for protecting 30% of the most important global land and marine areas by 2030.

Negotiators reached a historic deal at a U.N. biodiversity conference early Monday that would represent the most significant effort to protect the world’s lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world.

"But I'm very optimistic that, as the main goals have been landed and there is no, in general, opposition to these goals, we have made a very important step forward." Policymakers hope an ambitious deal can spur nature conservation the same way that an international pact in Paris in 2015 helped mobilize efforts to limit planet-warming carbon emissions. The draft, based on the last two weeks of talks, sets a crucial financial target of $200 billion per year for conservation initiatives, though demands less from wealthy countries than some developing states had wanted.

A global agreement to protect a significant percentage of the world's lands and waters will be reached by the time the COP15 nature convention ends on Monday, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Sunday.

The target is dominating the summit, but the issue of finding a balance between Indigenous peoples’ rights and protecting 30 percent of Earth remains.