H.E. Mr. Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China,
Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
Excellencies and friends,
My huge thanks to the People’s Republic of China for shepherding and backing the process that has brought us here, to Montreal, to finalize and ink a deal of huge importance – to humanity and to every species on this planet. And to Canada for stepping in to host us here, at the second part of COP15, at the seat of the CBD Secretariat in Montreal. My deep thanks.
Friends, partners, humanity has, for centuries, treated our greatest ally like an obstacle, a foe, fuel for the profit machine. Biodiversity, and by extension humanity, is now in deepening trouble. Everyone here knows the situation: the species loss, the historical and ongoing withering of natural landscapes, the degradation of once fertile land and of the ocean.
Nature and biodiversity is dying the death of a billion cuts. And humanity is paying the price for betraying its closest friend. In the words of the UN Secretary-General, “we are committing suicide by proxy”. This Conference of the Parties must secure the future of our planetary life support system.
Nothing less will do. In twelve days, you will need to have concluded the journey that started four years ago in Egypt, at COP14. Amongst a heavy wider agenda for COP, you must agree an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, with clear ambitions for the world. It’s going to take our deepest committment. Our greatest ability to think differently to remove the brackets. A new way of negotiating. If you can do this, you will deliver a framework that faces down the five horsemen of the nature apocalypse: changing land- and sea-use, over exploitation of species, climate change, pollution and invasive species.
A framework that addresses harmful subsidies, misdirected investment and unsustainable consumption and production – the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss. A framework that recognizes and protects the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, who are the most effective guardians of biodiversity. A framework that ensures the equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources through digital sequence information or other means. A framework that helps to bring nature into our working landscapes and cities: transforming them into green spaces where our children can play and breathe easy.
We must also remember that we are deep in a triple planetary crisis. A crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, yes. But also a crisis of climate change. And a crisis of pollution and waste. There can be no healthy nature without a stable climate, and vice versa. So the framework must dovetail with the Paris Agreement. It must dovetail with other international agreements on land degradation, forests, oceans, and chemicals and pollution – including the global deal to end plastic pollution under negotiation. And for the framework to be delivered, agreement here on sufficient resources, greater transparency and accountability on progress is essential.
Excellencies, we have been negotiating for a long time now. We speak of compromise, but we are not moving fast enough. Let us not lose sight of the point: to agree on a framework to support life on earth. There is no more noble a job than this. Let us move beyond the bracketed language to find a strong landing place and move faster. We all say there is no time to waste – our negotiation process has to reflect this. Frankly, it currently does not.
Furthermore, we cannot make the mistake of thinking time is on our side if we succeed here. The only possibility of achieving 2030 targets is with greater and more urgent action. Immediately after the gavel comes down, governments will need to set to work across all sectors, ministries and departments. Private sector, civil society, financers, researchers, academics, indigenous people and local communities must lend their collective strength to implementing solutions. Food and agriculture systems, the timber industry, the chemicals industry, the buildings and construction industry and consumers – all must work with nature in tow.
Excellencies, we cannot live without nature and biodiversity. Nature provides the very essence of life. Technology cannot replace the trees, the soil, the water, and the species that teem in them. We have no other world to flee to. When the web of life falls, we fall with it. In the coming days, you have a unique responsibility to deliver: to agree on the plan to make peace with nature. This responsibility is not a choice between something or nothing. It is a choice between everything or nothing.
We have worked hard for four years to get to this point and I salute you for your hard work. But time is up. We have to finish our work here. The world is watching you. We must shore up and strengthen the web of life, so it can carry the full weight of humanity for centuries to come.
Thank you.
