"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.Before he took the dais, 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.The challenges are daunting: one million species are at risk of extinction; one-third of all land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost; while pollution and climate change are accelerating degradation of the oceans.Chemicals, plastics and air pollution are choking land, water and air, while planetary heating brought about by burning fossil fuels are causing climate chaos -- from heatwaves and forest fires to droughts and floods.Ahead of the talks, AFP spoke to Elizabeth Mrema, the head of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), who said failure was not an option."