Commitment from Pacific island governments to protecting our Pacific biodiversity will ring loud and clear at a virtual High-level Segment of the 10th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas.
Scheduled for 26 November 2020, this will mark the importance of a Pacific initiated agenda for Nature Conservation for post-2020.
Pacific island Ministers and other SPREP Member country representatives from Australia, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America along with and Heads of Organisations of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) have been invited to participate in this high-level event.
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5) assessment published last month delivered a final report card on progress made against the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets that paints a dire picture. With only six of the 20 targets partially achieved by the 2020 deadline, the call for urgent conservation action by all countries is needed to save planet Earth.
“The High-level Segment will be the opportunity for our Pacific leaders and heads of key organisations to push for greater conservation action in our islands and commit to stronger regional collaboration,” said Mr Stuart Chape, Island and Ocean Ecosystem Programme Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
“This also provides another opportunity to guide the Pacific’s input to the development of the CBD Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the creation of a new set of global biodiversity targets for 2021-2030.”
The High-level Segment is an opportunity for Pacific islands, partner countries and PIRT members to commit to regional priorities and support a post-engagement strategy; the first step of which is to raise the Pacific voice at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the CBD to be held in in Kunming, China, in 2021.
The main deliverables of the High-level Segment will include the adoption of the Vemööre Declaration which underlines the urgent need to continue our efforts to protect biodiversity in the Pacific, and to strengthen our public policies and civil society actions.
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The word Vemööre is the Kwényï language from the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia and refers to make something viable, highlighting the commitment and responsibility of every individual to implement the principles of life, to preserve balance, build alliances, to respect the word between people but also between the spirits of our environment and resilience.
The 10th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas is to be the largest virtual meeting for the Pacific, with at least 800 biodiversity and nature conservation stakeholders expected to participate. The event will be held 24 – 27 November 2020.
While the High-level Segment will support the overall objectives of the conference to influence the post-2020 framework, it will also guide innovative conservation action at national and regional levels and help to secure sustainable funding for nature conservation in Oceania.
The 10th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas is a collaboration between the Government of New Caledonia, SPREP, and the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT).
For more information on the conference or High-level Segment please visit the conference website.