Guterres issues urgent call to protect biodiversity at COP16

At the high-level session of COP16 in Cali, United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the urgent need to halt biodiversity loss, calling for immediate global action to protect biological diversity.

We need to move from exploitation to preservation.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General

“The survival of both the planet and humanity depends on this shift. Nature is life itself, yet we are waging a war against it – a war with no winners. Each year, temperatures continue to rise, and every minute, a truckload of plastic waste enters our oceans, rivers, and lakes.”

Undermining sustainable development, says Guterres

Guterres urged countries to submit their biodiversity strategies and action plans, emphasizing that “No country – rich or poor – is immune to the damage caused by climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and pollution. These environmental crises are interconnected, know no borders, and are devastating ecosystems, livelihoods, human health, and sustainable development.”

Referring to targets in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Guterres noted that “We have already altered 75% of the Earth’s land surface and 66% of its oceans.”

The drivers of this destruction are rooted in outdated economic models that encourage unsustainable production and consumption patterns. This devastation is only intensified by inequalities in wealth and power.”

COP16, themed “Peace with Nature,” began on Oct. 21 and will conclude on Nov. 1.