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UN Secretary General: Humanity Has Become A Weapon Of Mass Destruction. PHOTO/Reuters
“With our unfounded appetite for unchecked and unbalanced economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction,” Guterres said in a speech ahead of a biodiversity talk in Montreal, Canada.
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Since taking office in 2017, Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal, has made climate change a flagship issue.
His impassioned condemnation at the opening ceremony of the conference, known as COP15, exposed the planet’s plight of endangered plants and animals – an interconnected crisis – equally close to his heart.
Before he took the podium, about half a dozen Indigenous protesters interrupted a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who co-hosted the event with China.
They waved banners reading “Indigenous Genocide = Ecocide” and “To save biodiversity stop attacking our lands,” and chanted minutes before they were escorted out, to loud applause.
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“As you can see, Canada is a place of free expression, where individuals and communities are free to express themselves openly and powerfully, and we thank them for sharing their perspectives,” Trudeau said in response.
The meeting is not to be confused with a series of UN talks earlier this month, which are on climate and are called COP27. Nearly 200 countries have gathered for the Dec. 7-19 meeting in a bid to complete a “Paris moment” for nature.
