"We cannot afford to continue thrashing a path through the fragile web of nature and biodiversity to clear the way for human development. Species, ecosystems and the benefits that they provide, upon which we all depend, are degrading and slowly dying."

Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said in her opening remarks to COP15 Biodiversity Conference in Montreal: “We cannot afford to continue thrashing a path through the fragile web of nature and biodiversity to clear the way for human development. Species, ecosystems and the benefits that they provide, upon which we all depend, are degrading and slowly dying. The loss and degradation of biodiversity comes with a cost we measure in not just dollars but in livelihoods, hunger, disease, vulnerability, well-being and deaths.”