Cop17 Must Deliver on Nature Protection, Canada's Guilbeault Says
Canada's environment minister warns that wars and economic pressures must not delay global biodiversity action ahead of Cop17.
Canada's former environment minister Steven Guilbeault is urging world leaders not to let ongoing conflicts and economic instability sideline efforts to protect nature, arguing that biodiversity loss poses an equally urgent threat to human health, food security, and economic stability.
Guilbeault helped broker the landmark 2022 global biodiversity agreement, struck in Montreal in December of that year, in which nearly 200 countries committed to halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. He warns that the momentum built around that deal risks being undermined as governments turn their attention to geopolitical and fiscal pressures.
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Writing in The Guardian, Guilbeault frames nature not as a secondary concern but as a foundational economic and public health asset. He argues that the upcoming Cop17 negotiations must translate the 2022 agreement into concrete, enforceable action rather than allowing political distractions to stall implementation.
Guilbeault anchors his argument in personal history, recalling a childhood protest against developers who cleared woodland near his home in La Tuque, Quebec — an early experience he describes as formative in shaping his environmental commitment. That memory, he writes, came back to him in the early hours of the Montreal negotiations as the gavel fell on the 2022 accord.
His message is directed at policymakers and the public alike: biodiversity protection cannot be treated as a "nice-to-have" contingent on calmer geopolitical times. With Cop17 on the horizon, he contends that the international community must demonstrate the political will to act now. Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.
