Honourable representatives of various governments
Representatives of various Secretariates from the Rio Conventions, and
other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour to be here today and be part of and Chair this important breakfast meeting as a member of this family, the Rio Conventions Pavilion.
The Rio Conventions Pavilion is an essential platform to unite governments and organisations through our joint efforts on implementing the Rio Conventions, spreading awareness about the linkages between climate change, combating desertification and land degradation, and conserving biological diversity, highlighting the latest science and case studies, and building capacities for implementation and partnerships.
It was a great honour to host the fourth edition of the Rio Conventions Pavilion at the margins of UNFCCC COP17 in Durban, South Africa, last December, which provided an important opportunity for South Africa to demonstrate its commitment to global collaboration on the implementation of the Conventions, and how they are linked to the African development agenda.
Indeed, as party to the three Rio Conventions, South Africa’s efforts to coordinate implementation includes coordinated management of funding to address biodiversity and climate change, as well as increased inclusion of climate change and biodiversity research within national biodiversity strategies, in addition to continued work on combating desertification and sustainable land management.
In Durban, the Rio Conventions Pavilion programme addressed important cross-cutting issues through dedicated discussion on gender mainstreaming, adaptation, sustainable cities, and the hosting of Land Day 5. Just one year later, the Pavilion has seen great success at both Rio+20 and CBD COP11 in Hyderabad, similarly with a high level of participation and significant outcomes.
Now we must take the conversation to the next level. While continuing the Rio Conventions Pavilion platform at the margins of the COPs, we should explore different avenues to have focused discussions on the importance of the Rio Conventions to achieving sustainable development, with even broader audiences globally. In order to do this, we will need to sustain the current level of support and participation from governments and organisations and forge new partnerships.
We look forward to successful and fruitful discussions at this meeting about the vision and future for the Rio Conventions Pavilion, and hope that our past experiences and successes will strengthen the overall outcomes of future meetings of the Rio Conventions Pavilion.
For media queries contact:
Peter Mbelengwa
Cell: 082 611 8197
