With half of all bird species worldwide declining in population and 1 in 8 bird species threatened with extinction, this week marks a critical moment for global efforts to halt biodiversity losses—not only among birds, but also struggling animals, plants, and intertwined ecosystems across the planet. The most significant international negotiations in a decade kick off in Montreal, Canada, today, with up to 20,000 delegates meeting in hopes of striking a long-delayed deal to safeguard a far greater portion of the planet’s biodiversity by 2030. At the two-week COP15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, negotiators face a daunting but urgent challenge to finalize a text, known as the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, that 196 signatory nations will support. “The benchmarks that will be decided collectively at this meeting are the ones that will guide how government budgets related to biodiversity and conservation will be allocated for years to come,” says...