UN Secretary-General António Guterres used urgent words to call on the participating states at the World Summit on Nature in Canada to "make peace with nature". The planet needs a strong deal to protect biodiversity on Earth:

"With our bottomless appetite for uncontrolled and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass destruction," Guterres said at the summit's opening ceremony in Montreal yesterday. "We are at war with nature. This conference is about the urgent task of making peace."

Mankind treats nature like a toilet, Guterres said. "And ultimately we are committing vicariously suicide, because the loss of nature and biodiversity comes at a huge cost to humanity." At the World Nature Summit, the "orgy of destruction" must end: "No excuses. No delays. Promises must be kept."

"Got to Fix the World We Have"

He was impressed by young climate activists around the world, said Guterres - but one cannot leave it to young people to put the chaos back in order. "We must take responsibility for the damage we have caused and act to fix it. Despite the dreams of deluded billionaires, there is no Planet B. We must fix the world , which we have."

At the opening ceremony, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also called on the participating states to adopt an effective agreement. "Nature is threatened - it is being attacked." Trudeau briefly interrupted his speech due to a protest from activists.

Declared goal: 30x30

The World Summit on Nature is scheduled to officially begin today. Organizers, scientists and representatives of non-governmental organizations are hoping that the meeting, which is scheduled to run until December 19, will lead to a landmark global agreement on species protection. One of the main goals of the conference is to protect at least 30 percent of the world's land and sea areas by 2030. A solid financial basis for global species protection also plays an important role in the forthcoming negotiations.

Originally, the 15th World Summit on Nature - which also goes by the abbreviation "COP-15" - should have taken place in China in 2020. However, it was then postponed and divided due to the ongoing pandemic situation there. The first part of the negotiations took place last October, mainly online, in Kunming, China.