Guterres urges faster action and financing to stop biodiversity loss

The United Nations Secretary-General appealed on Friday for governments, businesses and communities to accelerate efforts to protect biodiversity for future generations and all life on Earth.Guterres was speaking in Yerevan, Armenia, ahead of the opening of the COP17 UN biodiversity conference next week. “The food we eat, the water we drink, the very air we breathe – all are the gifts of biodiversity,” he told the Leaders’ Summit. “Yet every day, humankind saws another branch off the tree of life.” Extinction riskThe UN chief said factors such as climate disruption, overgrazing and excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides “are driving the triple planetary crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate chaos”. As a result, more than a million species face the risk of extinction, “edging us ever closer towards an uninhabitable world,” he warned, adding that “it doesn’t have to be this way”. Progress falling shortMr. Guterres said the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed four years ago, had inspired action worldwide. Nearly 90 per cent of parties have established national biodiversity targets, while more than half have developed national road maps. Since 2022,...