Put the planet before football, UN head of Cop15 nature summit tells leaders

Doha in Qatar. Cop15’s Elizabeth Maruma Mrema said: ‘You can go to the World Cup but what does it mean if there’s no life beyond that when you come back?’ Photograph: P Pattisson/Guardian

World leaders must not let the World Cup in Qatar distract them from a simultaneous nature summit, or they face being embarrassed by the outcome, the UN’s biodiversity chief has warned.

This December, delegates will travel to Montreal, Canada, for the UN biodiversity conference, known as Cop15, to negotiate a new set of global goals for nature over the next decade after two years of delays, with the final agreement due to be reached on the eve of the World Cup final on 18 December.