Over the next two weeks, governments, experts, activists and indigenous peoples will discuss global challenges to protecting nature. Biodiversity Summit: UN chief calls for ‘plan to save humanity’ Climate and Environment
The UN Biodiversity Summit has opened in Cali, Colombia. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on delegations from 190 countries to “make peace with nature” and develop a plan to preserve our planet’s ecosystems.
At the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), governments, experts, activists and indigenous peoples will be discussing global challenges to protecting nature over the next two weeks.
This is the first UN global summit on the topic since 2022, when countries agreed on the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Framework, which sets out an ambitious action plan to conserve biodiversity.
“The Framework is based on a clear truth: for humanity to survive, nature must thrive,” the Secretary-General said in a video message to participants conferences ;nbsp; & & bsp;
“La COP de la gente”
“But we are not on the right track. Your job at CS is to turn words into actions. This means countries must present clear plans that align national actions with the objectives of the framework,” he added, calling for a strengthened monitoring system to track the implementation of funding pledges.
“Those who use nature for their own purposes must contribute to its protection and restoration,” Guterres stressed.
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The UN chief noted that the world’s developing countries are “being robbed” while scientific discoveries and economic growth based on them resources, benefit others.
He said COP 16, “la COP de la gente” (the “people’s COP”), must strengthen the role of indigenous peoples and local communities, who are “the great custodians of biodiversity around the world.”
“We have a plan to save humanity from Earth degradation,” the Secretary-General stressed, adding that he looked forward to meeting with delegates after the main part of the conference.
“Reimagining Lifestyles”
In her address as COP 16 President, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said the summit should take steps to implement the Kunming-Montreal Framework.
“The speech is mainly about “It’s about rethinking lifestyles, rethinking development models, rethinking, transforming and re-creating how we live together in diversity, in a system where nature is no longer a perpetual victim of development,” she said.
Muhamad stressed that preserving biodiversity is closely linked to action to combat climate change: fossil fuel use is not only the source of 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, but also the cause of 90 percent of biodiversity loss.
Restoring ecosystems and nature can make almost 40 percent of the contribution to solving the problem of stabilizing the climate and the carbon cycle, she noted.