Antonio Guterres warns: Humanity is facing a crisis –

Antonio Guterres spoke at the COP16 environmental meeting in Cali, Colombia on Tuesday. AOP

Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres warns that humanity is facing an existential crisis caused by the rampant destruction of nature.

Guterres spoke on Tuesday at the COP16 summit on biodiversity in Cali, Colombia.

The theme of the summit is “Peace with nature”. However, the summit is mired in disagreements over the details of funding.

Getting busy with achieving goals

In a similar meeting held in Canada two years ago, 23 goals were agreed upon to stop the destruction of nature. The goals include, among other things, that 30 percent of the world’s land, water and sea areas are protected by 2030. This is only five years away.

– We are losing more species every day. We dump a garbage truck’s worth of plastic waste into our seas, rivers and lakes every minute, Guterres said.

– This is what an existential crisis looks like.

Guterres says humanity must move from looting to protecting nature’s bounty. According to Guterres, continued destruction only increases hunger, migration and armed conflicts.

– Nature is life. Nevertheless, we are waging war against it, Guterres told COP16 participants.

Guterres reminded that no country is immune to the ravages of climate change, biodiversity loss or pollution. He emphasized that environmental crises are related to each other.

Guterres called on the countries that signed the UN Biodiversity Convention to comply with the commitments agreed two years ago in Canada.