The One Planet Summit, a largely virtual event hosted by France in partnership with the United Nations and the World Bank took place at the Reception Room of the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on January 11. About 30 leaders, government officials and heads of international organizations participated in the event through video links due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on January 11 called for greater efforts to protect biodiversity and step up climate action.

Addressing world leaders at the One Planet Summit, the UN chief said that the process of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic offers the chance "to change course, and put humanity on a path on which it is not in conflict with nature," while urging greater efforts by everyone to protect biodiversity and step up climate action.

The UN chief outlined the consequences of abusing Earth and its resources.

"We have been poisoning air, land and water – and filling oceans with plastics. Now, nature is striking back: temperatures are reaching record highs, biodiversity is collapsing, deserts are spreading, (and) fires, floods and hurricanes are more frequent and extreme," he said.

"We are extremely fragile," Guterres warned.

Combined with the devastating effects of COVID-19 and its socioeconomic fallout, the UN chief reminded everyone that "as we rebuild, we cannot revert to the old normal."

"Pandemic recovery is our chance to change course. With smart policies and the right investments, we can chart a path that brings health to all, revives economies and builds resilience and rescues biodiversity," he said.

The secretary-general noted that "innovations and nature-based solutions" are especially promising, and that preserving biodiversity also creates jobs.

According to the World Economic Forum, emerging business opportunities across nature could create 191 million jobs by 2030, he added.

At the same time, with a financing gap of $711 billion per year until 2030 to meet global biodiversity targets, increased and sustained financing will be crucial to transition away from polluting sectors, Guterres said.

"The time has come to ... align public and private financial flows with the Paris Agreement commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals and integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal decisions."

The top UN official also urged support for the most vulnerable, who are already suffering the effects of climate change, such as the least developed countries and small island developing states.

"Everyone must do much more ... We begin a new year under the sign of hope. Together, let us seize the opportunity to build a safer, fairer and more sustainable world," he added.

Organized by the French government in partnership with the United Nations and the World Bank, the One Planet Summit brought together world leaders to commit action to protect and restore biodiversity. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event was largely virtual.

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, when speaking at the summit vis video link from Beijing the same day also called on all countries to make joint and swift efforts to push forward the building of a shared future for all life on Earth at the summit.

Noting that this year China will host the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming, and will formulate the post-2020 biodiversity framework to map out a blueprint for biodiversity conservation in the next 10 years, Han said that all parties should work together and act quickly to ensure that the conference achieves positive results.

He also called on all parties to strengthen communication, meet each other halfway, and jointly promote the framework negotiation process; study and formulate the post-2020 action targets scientifically to ensure they are rational and enforceable; strengthen enforcement of resource mobilization and guarantees, and effectively enhance the implementation capabilities of developing countries.

He said that China has made remarkable achievements in environmental protection, drawing a red line for ecological protection, setting up a national park system, and implementing major projects for biodiversity protection.

It will continue to improve environmental quality and build a beautiful China in accordance with the requirements of high-quality development, he added.

The One Planet Summit was initiated by the United Nations, the World Bank and France in 2017, with a focus on global climate and environmental governance, with three editions held so far. The theme of this year's summit was biodiversity conservation.

(With major input from Xinhua.)

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