Delegates from around the world are gathering in Montreal this week to address what United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described as "humanity's senseless and suicidal war with nature."
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which kicked off Tuesday, comes at a critical time. More than a million species are at risk of extinction globally, many within decades, because of human actions. Destruction of forests, wetlands and other natural ecosystems that clean air and water for the world's now 8 billion human residents continues worldwide. Climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
