Statement by Ms. Barbara Creecy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility, on the endorsement of the establishment of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, in Vancouver, Canada
Good morning to all esteemed delegates and allow me to congratulate the Government of Canada for successfully hosting this Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility.
South Africa welcomes our decision today to endorse the establishment of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.
The importance of this decision lies in the fact that seventeen of the twenty- one mega biodiverse countries are developing countries. Many of our countries have not yet recovered from the impact that the Covid 19 pandemic had on ecotourism, the mainstay of finances for conservation management.
South Africa, as one of these mega biodiverse countries requires financial support to meet the thirty- by- thirty target, science tells us is necessary for a healthy planet and health people.
We trust that developed countries will meet their commitments to this fund in accordance with the Rio Principles and in particular the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Article 20 of the Global Biodiversity Agreement.
Esteemed Delegates we have only seven years left to fully implement the Global Biodiversity Framework we adopted last December. Accordingly, we hope developing countries will be able to access funding as soon as possible. We have no time to loose.
South Africa is focused on putting measures in place for implementation that will conserve and sustainably utilize our biodiversity and ensure the fair and equitable benefits from the use of genetic resources. In this regard, we have adopted a white paper for Biodiversity and Sustainable Use which lays out our domestication of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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