By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community on Tuesday to "end our war on nature" on World Oceans Day.
Guterres pointed to a glut of plastic waste filling seas "from the remotest atolls to the deepest ocean trenches" as overfishing results in mass waste, heightening "the vulnerability of women, who are vital to the survival of small-scale fishing businesses."
"Carbon emissions are driving ocean warming and acidification, destroying biodiversity and causing sea level rise that threatens heavily inhabited coastlines," Guterres said in a statement.
"As we strive to recover from COVID-19, let’s end our war on nature. This will be critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, keeping within reach the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement, and ensuring the health of our oceans for today’s and future generations," he added.
The UN chief was referring to the landmark 2015 climate change pact signed by 196 countries that seek to rein in the increasingly disastrous effects of carbon emissions on global weather patterns.
