HEAD OF the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, in a statement issued for Mother Earth Day 2023, April 22, has said people must nurture their “most important” relationship or be prepared to face the penalty for failing to do so.

That most important relationship, the secretary-general said, is with nature.

“We must end these relentless and senseless wars on nature. We have the tools, the knowledge and the solutions. But we must pick up the pace,” he maintained.

“We need accelerated climate action with deeper, faster emissions cuts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We also need massively scaled-up investments in adaptation and resilience, particularly for the most vulnerable countries and communities who have done the least to cause the crisis,” Guterres added.

The health of ecosystems, he said, will help to determine the success of efforts to thwart climate change, which is especially problematic for small island developing states with their smaller economies, high debt burden, and geographical locations, among other factors.

“Let’s get to work to implement the historic United Nations biodiversity agreement to ensure that 30 per cent of Earth’s land and water is protected by 2030. At every step, governments must lead the way. But, corporations, institutions and civil society also have a vital role,” the UN boss encouraged.

According to Guterres, his encouragement to people everywhere this Mother Earth Day is to “raise their voices”.

From schools to workplaces, communities to social media, people must, he insisted, demand that their leaders “make peace with nature”.

“Let us all do our part to protect our common home for the sake of people and planet right now, and for the generations to come,” he said.

Mother Earth Day is being celebrated this year for the second time since the declaration of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. The day was officially proclaimed in 2009 by the United Nations General Assembly.

– pwr.gleaner@gmail.com [2]