Video message prepared for delivery at the Ministerial Roundtable “All for One, Together towards Kunming."
Excellency Huang Runqiu, Minister for Ecology and Environment, People’s Republic of China. Ministers, Honourable excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and colleagues from the Convention on Biological Diversity.
My deep appreciation for your continued efforts in these difficult and complex times. Thank you for inviting me to address you today as you deliberate on how we can and must move together to Kunming. Because Ministers, the tragic events of the last year have shown us that scaled-up action is simply non-negotiable.
This year’s International Day of Biological Diversity reminds us that WE are ALL part of the solutions for nature. So how do we as humanity end biodiversity loss on the planet that we share with and depend on more than 8 million different forms of life? Well, what we achieve at the Kunming Conference in October – will be a big part of the solution. We cannot afford to have the process slow further down. We have to arrive at ambitious post-2020 biodiversity targets and a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework - matched by financial resources, institutional capacity, and drives greater transparency. Beyond targets, success will be in the speed with which we convert these targets to action on the round.
We must commit to whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches to ending biodiversity loss because we all know that what’s needed is transformative action across the entire society. This means our food systems. This means our infrastructure investments. This means our energy systems. This means lifting the biodiversity agenda beyond Environment Ministries and into all-of-government, indeed all-of-society, into business, into civil society, including through aligning financial flows with ambitions for nature.
Ministers, the good news is that we don’t need to wait for a Framework to kickstart wise stewardship of nature. As countries invest unprecedented amounts of money into re-starting economies, there is a real opportunity to align with actions that improve nature, improve productivity, restore livelihoods, and human health.
Some immediate “to-dos” include beginning work on transforming food systems and other commodity supply chains; deploying government stimulus packages towards green jobs; supporting a true one-health approach; and building partnerships with indigenous people and local communities for true impact on the ground. One important opportunity will come in June, when UNEP along with FAO, and other partners launches the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aiming to restore ecosystems, and in so doing, make an invaluable contribution to the sustainable development goals, to the Paris Accord and indeed to biodiversity.
Even as Kunming is an essential springboard on the road to living in harmony with nature, we must do all we can to ensure that ambitions and plans for nature are woven into other milestone moments to secure the full support and the resources needed. This includes the UN Food Systems Summit that aims to radically alter our food systems and the UNFCCC COP 26 so that new commitments for climate change also reduce our collective risks and secure nature.
I commend all Parties for the continued momentum to get back on track to enable the COP15 to adopt a biodiversity framework that resonates with everyone and resonate everywhere. My sincere thanks to Parties for the stellar commitment, the political will, and the flexibility you are showing, because bringing together the Framework to address the nature crisis is not just entirely possible this year but is essential for our common ambition for people and for planet. I thank you for your commitment.
Thank you.
Executive Director
