The UN Biodiversity Conference has the “urgent mission of making peace with nature,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told participants during the opening ceremony, which included a ceremonial welcome, comments by high-level delegations, and cultural acts. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remarked, “If we can’t agree as a world on something as fundamental as protecting nature, then nothing else matters.” His speech was interrupted by indigenous protesters who demanded land rights and justice for Canada’s indigenous population.
Tadodaho Sid Hill, the traditional chief of the Onondaga Nation, welcomed everyone to the ritual and emphasised the need to “bring our minds together as one and act together as one.”
however, Justin Trudeau began by paying tribute to the 14 women killed in the mass massacre at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. He brought attention to Canada’s goal to protect 30% of its lands and waters by 2030 and made a CAD 350 million funding commitment for biodiversity initiatives in developing nations.
