𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐂𝐁𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐏𝟏𝟔), 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐚, 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥, 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏
Let me begin by thanking the President and the people of Colombia for being such wonderful hosts and especially the President for eloquently stating why we should all be here. We need to reset our relationship with biodiversity and nature, and we need to go back to the relationships we used to have with nature. There is a word from the Pacific, from my country Fiji, that the world has borrowed, that word is ‘tabu’. The meaning of this word is sacred and that is how we should be looking at nature and biodiversity.
We are here today from the Pacific because our islands are under dire threat, in 2022 our Pacific Island leaders declared a regional state of climate emergency on top of the global triple planetary crisis we all face. The regional emergency and global crisis require our collective, integrated, urgent and ambitious action. Pacific Island leaders approved the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent as our response, and as the framework for our sustainable development, through strengthened partnerships, collaboration and coordination to deliver the priorities of the Pacific.
We need to urgently increase resources for oceans and islands, SDG 14 is the least resourced of all SDG’s. Historically, CBD has emphasised terrestrial conservation because we had more knowledge on terrestrial issues and the terrestrial environment. We now have a lot more knowledge of the ocean and coastal and marine environments, we need to ensure we bring balance into the resourcing of both terrestrial and marine and ocean biodiversity. We advocate for a separate decision on island biodiversity to allow time for meaningful discussion of priority ecosystems and species that are globally significant. Coral reefs are under dire threat, if we are not careful, we will lose them altogether. We need to have urgent action on coral reefs and here in Cali, Colombia we need to come forward with clear targets on 30 x 30.
We are honoured to be designated as the Oceania Centre of Technical and Scientific Cooperation under the CBD, this is a role we have been doing since we were first formed 31 years ago as SPREP, but it is good to be formally recognised as a global centre. This was a decision of COP, and we hope that COP will also make a decision to adequately resource these centres to fully meet the aspirations we all have in setting them up.
https://lnkd.in/ddMD5ibX
#ResilientPacific #CBDCOP16 #PeacewithNature
Aeronautical Engineer - Project Manager @RECARBON - RSPP
6moLooking forward to seeing it also in the Vanzago (MI) one!