YEREVAN, Armenia / AfricaWire.IO / – More than one million species face the risk of extinction as humanity continues to destroy nature, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday. Speaking at the Leaders’ Summit in Yerevan, Armenia, on October 16, he called for urgent and effective global action against environmental degradation. The summit preceded the 17th UN Biodiversity Conference, COP17, which Armenia hosts from October 19 to 30. Guterres said the destruction threatens the future of life on Earth.
The Secretary-General pressed governments to scale up investment in solutions that safeguard ecosystems. He also urged greater participation by businesses and local communities. Guterres identified climate disruption, overgrazing and the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides as key drivers of the triple planetary crisis. Pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change together are pushing the world ever closer to becoming uninhabitable, he said. He added that this outcome is not inevitable.
Four years after countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Guterres said progress has been uneven and far too slow. The 2022 agreement set a goal of conserving 30% of the planet’s land and sea by 2030. Nearly 90% of parties have since adopted national biodiversity targets, and more than half have national road maps. He described the Yerevan meeting as a moment of accountability at the halfway point.
$30 spent on harm for every $1 on nature
Guterres pointed to a deep mismatch in how the world spends money on nature. For each dollar invested in protecting nature, $30 goes to activities that damage it. In 2023 alone, $7.3 trillion flowed into nature-negative industries, including heavy industry, destructive agribusiness and fossil fuels. He called on governments to scrap such subsidies permanently. Guterres also highlighted the Cali Fund, which invites companies that benefit from nature to contribute.
The UN chief said reaching biodiversity, climate and land restoration goals will require annual investment in nature-based solutions of $571 billion by 2030. That equals roughly 0.5% of global gross domestic product. Biodiversity financing remains below half of the $200 billion annual target set under the framework. Guterres noted that heavy debt, tight budgets and an unfair international financial system limit developing countries’ ability to invest in nature.
Current pledges protect only 26% of land
Existing commitments leave the 30% conservation goal out of reach. If countries fulfil their current pledges, only 26% of land ecosystems and 12% of marine ecosystems would be protected by 2030. Formal protection has expanded since 2022 to cover an additional 1.3 million square kilometres of land and 6 million square kilometres of ocean. Guterres urged countries to move from policies that destroy nature to policies that sustain it.
The Secretary-General called for wider involvement of young people, civil society, women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, noting that environmental decline often hits the most vulnerable hardest. He welcomed the Yerevan Declaration’s pledge to integrate biodiversity into policies, budgets and regulations. Guterres said biodiversity cannot be separated from conflict, food insecurity, disease or climate change. COP17 talks open in Yerevan on October 19.