Humanity has become ‘weapon of mass extinction’, UN head tells Cop15 launch

Antonio Guterres calls for end to destruction of nature as Canada pushes proposal to protect 30% of Earth

Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the orgy of destruction", the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has said at the beginning of the biodiversity Cop15.

We 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," he said.