Biodiversity: No country is immune to devastation inflicted by climate change - UN Chief at COP16

Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the opening of the High-Level Segment of the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) in Cali, Colombia.

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “Nature is life. And yet we are waging a war against it. A war where there can be no winner.”

Addressing the high-level segment of the 16th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) today (29 Oct) in Cali, Colombia warned that no country is immune to the devastation inflicted by climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and pollution, adding that these environmental crises are intertwined, they know no borders.

He said, “The drivers of this destruction are embedded in outdated economic models, fueling unsustainable production and consumption patterns. They are multiplied by inequalities – in wealth and power. And with each passing day, we are edging closer to tipping points that could fuel further hunger, displacement, and armed conflicts. We have already altered 75 percent of the Earth's land surface and 66 percent of its ocean environments.”

He also said, “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. That is the spirit of today's Declaration of the World Coalition for Peace with Nature: A call for action to enhance national and international efforts towards a balanced and harmonious relationship with nature.”

The Secretary-General noted that when the Framework was adopted two years ago in Montreal, the world made bold commitments to living in harmony with nature by mid-century.

He stressed that we must now turn these promises into acts.

He concluded, “We can – and we must – save the ecosystems that sustain us and keep our climate goals within reach. The alternative is unthinkable.”