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This is the guardian. Events over the past few months have been, if i'm really honest, terrifying. Wild fires in europe have burned an area equivalent to one fifth of belgium. China is suffering its worst drought on record. The yankee river, ages longest waterway, is now at record low levels. And a third of pakistan is under water. We usually think about how these kinds of events impact us humans. But we perhaps consider a little less what they mean for everything else.

It is now less than 100 days until Cop15, the UN convention on biological diversity. At these talks, which are taking place in Montreal, Canada in December, governments from around the world will come together to agree targets aimed at halting the destruction of the natural world and protecting biodiversity. With the Earth experiencing the largest loss of life since the extinction of the dinosaurs, what is decided at this meeting could shape the future of the planet and humanity. Madeleine Finlay speaks to biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston about how negotiations have been going so far, and what’s next on the road to Cop15. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod