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UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for collective leadership to protect and nurture nature.
He made the statement at the COP17 Leaders’ Summit in Yerevan.
“This landscape, and everything in it, is a reminder of why we are here: the food we eat, the water we drink, the very air we breathe, all are the gifts of biodiversity. Yet every day, humankind saws another branch off the tree of life. Climate chaos, invasive species, overgrazing and overfishing, excessive fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals — all these and more are driving the triple planetary crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate chaos. Over 1 million species now face the risk of extinction, edging us ever closer towards an uninhabitable world. It doesn't have to be this way. Four years ago, in Montréal, leaders agreed on a plan: the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework laid out a path to make peace with nature. But that was just the beginning. We need more action, more speed, and more will,” Guterres said.
The UN Secretary-General noted that addressing these challenges requires the full participation of civil society, as well as increased public investment.
“We need the leadership of all. Environmental decline often falls hardest on the most vulnerable and those who did the least to cause the problem. But the solutions often arise from these same groups. For the Global Biodiversity Framework to succeed, we need partnerships like never before. And these include the innovation of young people, the energy of civil society, the participation of women, and of course the leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. By placing Indigenous knowledge at the heart of biodiversity, we can harness one of the world's most powerful AIs: Ancestral Intelligence,” Guterres said.
Guterres added that he has 76 days remaining in his tenure as UN Secretary-General and that one of his main priorities has been combating the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
“And this is because, like many of you, I have children and grandchildren. They are counting on us to be leaders for nature,” he said.