UN: More Than 70 Countries, Including Morocco, Pledge to halt Earth’s Destruction ahead of UN Summit on Biodiversity

New York (United Nations) – More than 70 countries, including Morocco, pledged on Monday to put wildlife and climate at heart of post-Covid recovery plans, clamp down on pollution, embrace sustainable economic systems and eliminate the dumping of plastic waste in oceans by the middle of the century as part of “meaningful action” to halt the destruction of nature on Earth.

The pledge was also made by 64 heads of state and government from five continents warning that humanity is in a state of planetary emergency due to the climate crisis and the rampant destruction of life-sustaining ecosystems. To restore the balance with nature, governments and the European Union have made a 10-point pledge to counteract the damage to systems that underpin human health and wellbeing.

All signatories to the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, launched virtually in New York on Monday, have committed to putting wildlife and the climate at the heart of post-pandemic economic recovery plans, while promising to address the climate crisis, deforestation, ecosystem degradation and pollution.

The pledge was made on the eve of a major UN biodiversity summit on Wednesday, which will be hosted virtually from New York.

“Science clearly shows that biodiversity loss, land and ocean degradation, pollution, resource depletion and climate change are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. This acceleration is causing irreversible harm to our life support systems and aggravating poverty and inequalities as well as hunger and malnutrition,” the pledge reads.

“Despite ambitious global agreements and targets for the protection, sustainable use and restoration of biodiversity, and notwithstanding many local success stories, the global trends continue rapidly in the wrong direction. A transformative change is needed: we cannot simply carry on as before.”