'Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction,' warns UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed multinational corporations for turning the world's ecosystems into "playthings of profit" and warned failure to correct course would lead to catastrophic results.

"With our bottomless appetite for unchecked and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction," he said, in a speech ahead of biodiversity talks in Montreal.

Since taking office in 2017, Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, has made climate change his signature issue.

His fiery denunciations at the ceremonial opening of the conference, known as COP15, revealed the plight of the planet's endangered plants and animals -- an interconnected crisis -- are equally close to his heart.

A group of around half a dozen Indigenous protesters interrupted a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is co-hosting the event with China.

They waved a banner that read "Indigenous genocide = Ecocide" and "To save biodiversity stop invading our land," and chanted for a few minutes before they were escorted out, to a smattering of applause.

"As you can also see Canada is a place of free expression, where individuals and communities are free to express themselves openly and strongly, and we thank them for sharing their perspectives," said Trudeau in response.

The meeting is not to be confused with another set of UN talks earlier this month, which were on climate and called COP27.