UN Secretary-General’s Press Stakeout at the End of the Visit in Colombia

: I thank President Petro for hosting the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cali. 

I congratulate Colombia on the excellent organization of this COP. 

I also thank the people of Colombia for their warm welcome, we all felt very much at home. 

The world has come to Cali to make peace with nature. 

Let me be clear: we are facing an existential crisis. 

Temperatures are climbing higher and higher. 

We are losing more and more species – forever. 

We are poisoning our waters. 

And treating nature as a disposable asset. 

Human activities have already altered three-quarters of Earth's land surface and two-thirds of its waters. 

And no country, rich or poor, is immune to this devastation. 

To survive, humanity must make peace with nature. 

We must transform our economic models – shifting our production and consumption to nature-positive practices. 

Renewable energy, sustainable supply chains and zero-waste policies are not optional. 

They must become the default option for both governments and businesses. 

The good news is that we have a plan:

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted two years ago. 

But nature cannot wait for its implementation any longer. 

This is what this COP is about: 

Turning promises into action. 

We have seen good progress, and I want to thank everyone for their efforts. 

But with less than two days of negotiations left to go, we need to accelerate. 

I want to highlight three priorities. 

First – Cali must spark a new era for ambitious national biodiversity plans. 

As of today, a majority of countries have national targets that align with the Global Biodiversity Framework. 

I urge every Member State to follow suit and align these national plans with their adaptation plans and updated climate Nationally Determined Contributions – due early next year. 

We must also reach an agreement on a strengthened monitoring and transparency framework to ensure accountability and move forward together. 

Second – we must leave Cali with concrete plans to unlock new funding and share the benefits from the use of genetic resources. 

This means capitalizing the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. 

I thank the countries and regions that pledged an additional 163 million US dollars this week. 

But if we are to deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework in full, we need much more. 

We must make sure we are able to mobilize 200 billion dollars annually by 2030 from all sources – domestic, international, public and private. 

Developed countries must lead the way and provide at least 20 billion dollars per year – by next year – to support developing countries, in particular the Least Developed Countries and Small Island States, in their conservation and restoration efforts. 

Businesses profiting from nature must also contribute to its protection and restoration.

This includes operationalizing a mechanism for sharing the benefits from the use of the Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources – in a clear, fair and efficient way. 

Third – we must recognize, involve, and protect those who guard our natural heritage. 

Indigenous Peoples and local communities possess vital knowledge of biodiversity conservation. 

And in this region, People of African descent are key custodians of natural resources. 

They must all be at the center of our decisions, not on the sidelines. 

In Cali, we must agree on the proposal to establish a new permanent body for Indigenous peoples and local communities within the Convention on Biological Diversity – ensuring their voices are heard at every step across the work of the Convention. 

The clock is ticking. 

The survival of our planet’s biodiversity – and our own survival – are on the line. 

We don’t have a moment to lose.  

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QUESTION AND ANSWERS: 

Question: [Inaudible] - AFP. There are five years left to achieve the coming Montreal Objective Framework – to have them reversed by biodiversity laws by 2030.  Here the focus is mainly on resource mobilization. Is that the correct approach? Is it really the fight over finance that will determine the success of [Global Biodiversity Framework Fund] GBF.  Is it the fight over finance that is key to determining the success of GBF? Or is it something else? 

Secretary-General: I think the most important thing in it - and that is the reason my presence in this COP - is to change what has been the permanent neglect of biodiversity, namely when compared with our efforts in relations to climate change. 

We need, first of all, to accept the concept that we are facing three existential crises: climate change, biodiversity and pollution, namely plastics. 

But they are all interlinked and indivisible.  So, the central question is to make sure that we are able to put biodiversity as the center of our concerns in all aspects of policy and strategy and financing as we are putting climate change.

Obviously, finance is essential, but finance is not enough. What we need is a political priority at government levels. Political priorities at multilateral institution levels, and the clear commitment of the Private Sector to be involved in order to make sure that we understand that without defeating the biodiversity crisis, we will not defeat the climate crisis, we will not defeat the pollution crisis, and we will condemn our world to a situation of extreme poverty in the natural environments and this is totally unacceptable. 

So, we must bring the attention of the people of the government, the institutions, and the Private Sector to the centrality of biodiversity in the context of our environmental processes.

Question: Sir, this is Stella Paul from IPS news (Inter Press Service News).  Our overarching theme here is making peace with nature, but at the time, when we are seeing increasing impact of war and conflict on biodiversity across the world, starting from Ukraine to all the way to Palestine and we are not seeing enough discussion of that in a formal way, even at the COP, how do you think that we can make peace with nature? Thank you.

 Secretary-General: Well, we need peace with nature, and we need peace among ourselves. That is the reason I've been asking for in line with the Charter, in line with international law, and in line with the General Assembly resolutions. That is why we have been asking for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, releasing all hostages and massive humanitarian aid to Gaza. That is why we have been asking for peace in Lebanon and peace that respects Lebanese sovereignty and Lebanese territorial integrity and paves the way for a political solution. That is why we have been asking for peace in Sudan, where an enormous tragedy exists. And, obviously, we need to make peace in nature, but we need to make peace among ourselves because wars have one of the most devastating impacts - wars have some of the most devastating impacts on biodiversity on climate and on pollution.

Question: Hi [inaudible] for Le Monde. Many issues of the negotiations are still unresolved, and many Ministers are leaving tonight. Are you worried this COP could fail or at least not be as successful as is should?

Secretary-General: I have to say that I met with the five groups. And I heard a large number of ministers talk. And I felt that there was a huge will to find a successful result and a huge will to compromise on the pending issues. So, I'm quite optimistic that it will be possible to reach a consensus and not a consensus on the consensus, but the consensus that paves the way for progress after the COP in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Framework

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