The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Greecy at the G20 environment and climate sustainability Ministers meeting, chennai, india
Minister Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India,
Your Excellencies and fellow Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to the priority issue of how G20 countries can work together to protect biological diversity.
South Africa’s mega-biodiversity is both a national and cultural asset and a source of socio-economic development for our people through the sustainable use of a wide variety of plants, marine living organisms and wildlife.
In December last year, the international community adopted the landmark Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). A key decision has been the adoption the ambitious 30 by 30 goal which science tells us is necessary to preserve biodiversity, ecosystems and indeed human life itself.
As we are gathered here today, we must re-emphasise that 17 of the major biodiverse countries in the world are developing countries. Accordingly, the ambitious targets to preserve our planet will be meaningless unless they are backed with enabling means of implementation for developing countries.
Consequently, we need developed countries, in particular, to assist with securing an at-scale, predictable and appropriate funding stream for nature conservation and protection of biodiversity.
This year our government adopted the White Paper on the Sustainable use of South Africa’s Biological Diversity, which outlines four strategic goals of conservation, sustainable use, equitable sharing of benefits and transformation. We regard this white paper as our own strategy to implement Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
Land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change are interlinked global environmental problems. 2030 is a significant milestone for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. We welcome the ongoing discussions under the Indian Presidency, as well as past Presidencies, and look forward to further collaboration including through the implementation of the G20 Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats.
I thank you,
