BOGOTA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Ivan Duque on Tuesday called for international cooperation to protect his country's environmentally-threatened moorlands, in a speech to the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
"We want to call on all the nations of the planet to protect mountain-top ecosystems. Today I invite you to join us in creating a global strategy for the defense of the moorlands, with which we will guarantee the survival of these ecosystems," said Duque, who addressed the general assembly via a videoconference call from Bogota.
"The moorlands are true factories of drinking water" and supply "the water basins that irrigate a large part" of Colombia's territory, he said, urging the international community "to contribute resources."
"The accelerated loss of biodiversity is currently one of the great global problems. The current situation (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) has shown us the close relationship between human health and the health of ecosystems, whose decline puts our survival as a species at risk," said Duque. Enditem
