EU Statement – UN General Assembly 2nd Committee: Adoption of the Resolution on Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its contribution to sustainable development

Mister Chair,

 I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the potential candidate country Georgia as well as Monaco aligned themselves with this statement

The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity was a historic deal for nature – a real breakthrough for halting and reversing biodiversity loss around the world. 

The Global Biodiversity Framework complements the Paris Agreement and both must be addressed at the same political level and implemented coherently and urgently. Jointly, they form a global roadmap towards a truly sustainable economy, where nature is put on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and our planet.

The framework also promotes coherence, complementarity and cooperation between the Convention on Biological Diversity and other multilateral agreements and creates opportunities for cooperation and partnerships.

With only six years to reach the 2030 targets, the early, effective and inclusive implementation of the KMGBF will require active whole-of-government and whole-of-society engagement, mobilization of resources from all sources and continued effort and leadership.

The CBD resolution, on which we are joining consensus today, clearly welcomes the KMGBF and its mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. It calls for urgently increasing the mobilization of financial resources with a view to closing the biodiversity financing gap and ensuring the effective implementation of the framework.

It also gives us a clear way forward, including by aligning national targets and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans with the Framework by COP16, in line with Decision 15/5 of the COP.

We stand ready to support our partners in this effort. The EU and its Member States are the main providers of international biodiversity funding. The European Union has committed to double its biodiversity financing to developing countries to EUR 7 billion until 2027 and EU Member States have pledged to make similar efforts. We urge others to contribute to biodiversity financing in similar ways.

Finally, we wish to stress the importance of implementing the Framework across the UN system, through a system-wide approach that includes the support of Resident Coordinators and UN Country teams.

Mister Chair,

In concluding, we welcome the efforts made in streamlining this resolution while preserving the integrity of the Global Biodiversity Framework and its targets as a balanced whole. We express our sincere appreciation of the Facilitator’s efforts to bring this resolution back to full consensus. We would like to thank the G77 negotiators, Leïla Santos and Leticia Zamora, including for their work on this resolution for five consecutive years. Finally, we thank all delegations for a truly constructive and collective work in making this resolution fit for purpose following COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

I thank you.