Your excellency Minister Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China and COP 15 President
My dear friend Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
My warm congratulations to the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for your commitment to making this historic Conference of Parties happen, in hybrid form, despite the many challenges of the pandemic.
Make no mistake: this COP is historic. What we do will be remembered. Because we can no longer rely on biodiversity to operate like clockwork and deliver what humanity needs to survive.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the goals therein to end hunger and poverty, depend on biodiversity and natural capital. To achieve the SDGs, we need a natural capital stock up to 80 per cent greater than we already have. So, we hold the futures of millions of people in our hands. We hold the survival of other species in our hands. We hold the future of economies and businesses in our hands.
The draft Kunming Declaration shows that we are prepared to raise ambition and action. That we understand fully the scale and breadth of the task ahead. But the framework, when agreed, will not stand in isolation. The Framework’s implementation must come alongside a wider cultural shift on biodiversity, folded into a decade of action on climate, ecosystem restoration and so much more. The Framework’s implementation must come with an understanding that ONLY ambition and action across all elements of the Framework will get us to a nature-positive future.
We must back every commitment with policies, legislation and delivery through a whole-of-government approach. We must elevate national policies to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss. Understand that the three Rio conventions on climate, biodiversity and on desertification are indivisible. Build a common approach to biodiversity in the UN system – something UNEP is working on with the Environment Management Group, with the strong support of the UN Secretary-General.
We must close the financing gap. Through reducing, repurposing and redirecting harmful use of financial resources. Through aligning trillions of dollars in financial flows with nature. Through transforming national and global accounting systems so they reflect the true cost of nature in economic activities. By generating new international and domestic financial resources. By increasing the efficiency of the use of existing resources. This is precisely why UNEP along with partners - the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP - are committed to fast-tracking support to governments so that all countries can jumpstart action once the Framework is concluded.
We must reform our economies so they become circular, so that we do not keep tearing natural resources out of the ground at a rate that cannot be sustained.
We must act on the right to a healthy environment, as reaffirmed just a few days by the UN Human Rights Council. In particular, we need to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
To do all of this, we are going to require political will, and resources and capacities to deliver. To succeed, we will have to be brave enough to address vested interests and other barriers to action. To flourish, we will have to show real transparency and accountability on national and international commitments.
COP15 is our chance to shift our course. Together with COP26 on climate, it is our chance to agree on the pathway to the world we want. Because in delivering on biodiversity, we deliver on climate, on pollution, on the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and on the food and energy system transformation. So, let us ensure that this COP will be remembered as the moment we finally set our societies and economies on the path to rebuilding the biodiversity upon which we all rely.
I thank you.
