(Montreal) Ministers of the Environment from around the world and their delegates meeting at the 15e United Nations conference (COP15) were urged to put their differences aside on Saturday.
“We are still facing immense tasks,” COP15 President and Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu reminded them.
The adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework must absolutely be adopted “in the coming days”, he insisted.
“It is our responsibility, and it will take effort, dear friends,” said Huang Runqiu, at the opening of the closing session of the high-level segment, at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal.
“We are no longer approaching the point of no return, we are there,” added the Secretary General of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.
The action must be ambitious. We can no longer say “it will be fine next time”, it must be this time, it must be today.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Business for Nature Director Eva Zabey came to remind delegates that there is “no business or economy without nature”.
” Yes ! Business people are asking you to be ambitious and for more regulation [pour protéger la nature]. We are counting on you and you can count on us”, said the head of the organization which represents more than 330 companies and organizations in 55 countries.
A sign that finance occupies a more important place at this COP on biodiversity, a representative of the organization Finance for Biodiversity also addressed the delegates on Saturday morning.
“This is a first in the history of CDB [Convention sur la diversité biologique]there was a full day on finance on Wednesday,” noted Jan Erik Saugestad.
He also clarified that the implementation of the future agreement would be a challenge after COP15 in Montreal.
Include cities
Mayor of Montreal Valérie Plante also addressed ministers and delegates, calling on them to include cities and subnational governments in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which held a summit as part of COP15 in beginning of the week.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante
“It is imperative that 2022 marks the time when delegations explicitly adopt the formal role of cities and subnational governments,” she said.
“It is at our level that we can mobilize the population towards the changes necessary to safeguard biodiversity,” added Mayor Plante.