In remarks to a high-level virtual meeting to develop a new global framework to address biodiversity loss, Guterres underlined the need for commitment, ambition and credibility.

‘As people and livestock encroach further into wild habitats, we run the risk of unleashing terrifying new pandemics,’ he warned.

He also urged Governments to shift the ‘perverse subsidies’ that destroy healthy soils, pollute our water and empty the oceans of fish.

We must incentivize actions to sustain nature and also establish larger and better managed conservation areas to safeguard species, functioning ecosystems and carbon stocks for current and future generations.

Likewise, he laid stress on the need to empower the leadership of indigenous peoples and local communities whose lands encompass much of the world’s remaining biodiversity.

World´s one million species are at risk of extinction, this is wiping out options for society, from medicines to food, passing through crucial solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate changes, Guterres said.

Humanity is now waging an absurd and self-destructive war on nature, and peace must be declared as soon as possible, only a courageous action on the ground can curb the biodiversity crisis, he added.

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