Guterres identifies a major challenge to biodiversity conservation

The extractive industry is one of the main challenges to biodiversity conservation worldwide, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference held in connection with the forthcoming COP17 conference in Yerevan.

“The key issue is influence. The extractive industry has far too much influence. Those destroying forests have far too much influence in different regions of the world. Those overfishing still have far too much influence because they retain economic power and exert excessive influence over political power.

“We need to change those relationships, and we have an ally: the fact that the situation is changing. Look, today fossil fuels are more expensive than renewable energy,” Guterres said.

The UN secretary-general stressed the need to change the balance of power, influence and authority so that governments would be more committed to tackling biodiversity loss and the resources used to fund support for biodiversity could be multiplied.

Guterres arrived in Armenia to attend the leaders’ summit to be held as part of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), which will take place in Yerevan.

Yerevan will host COP17 from 19 to 30 October, bringing together delegations from countries around the world and representatives of international organisations and civil society to assess progress in biodiversity conservation and discuss further joint action.