In the midst of COP15 in Montreal, the environmental organization Greenpeace on Thursday installed a large banner on the Ring, this steel work 30 meters in diameter on the Esplanade Place Ville Marie, calling on world leaders to “protect nature “.
At daybreak, Greenpeace activists hung “a 46-foot-high banner in the center of the Ring of Montreal”, the group confirmed on its social networks, saying it wanted to “send a clear message to world leaders at COP15: protect nature, protect life”.
This all happened on the second day of the International Conference on Biodiversity, COP15, which is being held about a kilometer away at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal.
“The leaders of this world must get us off this highway of extinction. This conference is one of the last outings available to us,” argued Thursday the Nature and Food campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, Marie-Josée Béliveau, recalling that more than a million species are currently endangered worldwide.
An Lambrechts, biodiversity policy expert at Greenpeace International, said that “this COP can turn this breaking point into a turning point for the natural world”. “We need an ambitious global agreement to put indigenous peoples and local communities at the center of conservation efforts, with at least 30% of the planet’s land and water protected by 2030,” she said. .
Two sides, one banner
Measuring seven meters by 14 meters, the banner was separated into two illustrations. On one side, we could see living and healthy animals and on the other, a representation of animal extinction, illustrated by skeletons and bones.
Around 7:30 a.m., a dozen activists arrived near Place Ville Marie. Wearing safety helmets and dressed in orange jackets, they used slingshots attached to telescopic poles to launch cables over the ring and then hoist the banner.
It should be noted that the visibility operation took place under the supervision of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), which had dispatched several patrol officers for the occasion. No overflow was to be reported at the start of the day.
With The Canadian Press