Antonio Guterres tells Cop 15: People have become weapons of mass destruction

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres described the world's actions as an 'orgy of destruction' Picture: Thomas Hartwell/PA

People have become "weapons of mass destruction" and must halt the "orgy of destruction", the UN chief has told the world's biggest biodiversity summit.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told the Cop15 attendees in Canada that "the deluded dreams of billionaires aside, there is no Planet B" in his opening remarks on the climate and nature crisis.

Mr Guterres, who has become one of the biggest critics of the failure to act on climate change and biodiversity loss, told delegates in Montreal that humans are "out of harmony" with nature. 

"In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction. Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems.

Our land, water and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics…The most important lesson we impart to children is to take responsibility for their actions. What example are we setting when we ourselves are failing this basic test?

More than 10,000 scientists and 196 countries are attending the summit, with Ireland represented by Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan, and representatives from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Department of Housing.

Most important event in a decade 

Mr Noonan said there is "much to do" at the most important event on biodiversity in a decade.

"Nature is essential for human existence, but we’re losing species faster than at any time over the past 10 million years. The great majority of the world’s ecosystems are showing rapid decline. Some scientists say we’re entering a sixth mass extinction — the fifth was the dinosaurs. He added:

Cop15 is happening at a crucial time for humanity, when the urgent need to shore up nature’s contributions to people are more starkly obvious than ever.

On the opening day at Cop15, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) joined an alliance of 111 universities committing to reversing biodiversity decline.

Vice-president for biodiversity and climate action at TCD, Prof Jane Stout, said the university is embedding sustainability in everything it does.

 "There are challenges, but by joining the Nature Positive Universities Alliance, we join an international effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss."

The alliance sees the 111 universities from 44 countries make individual pledges to start a journey towards becoming nature positive, a term used to describe species and ecosystems being restored and regenerating as opposed to declining.

The alliance members will carry out baseline assessments, and set specific, time limited, and measurable targets for nature.

The promise is to take "bold action" to reduce biodiversity impacts, protect and restore species and ecosystems, while influencing others to do the same, and have committed to transparent annual reporting.