UN Biodiversity Conference 2018, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Announcement: Sharm El-Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for Nature and People
The Republic of Egypt, as the President of the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its concurrent meetings (COP14), and the People's Republic of China, as future host of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its concurrent meetings (COP15) in 2020, together with the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, are teaming up to launch the
Sharm El-Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for Nature and People.
The Action Agenda for Nature and People – which will be hosted on an online platform – aims to catalyze a groundswell of actions from all sectors and stakeholders in support of biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use, while enabling the mapping of current global efforts, in order to assess impact and gaps.
RATIONALE
More than 77% of land on Earth, excluding Antarctica, has been modified by humans, up from just 15% a century ago. Vertebrate populations have declined by 60% from their 1970 levels. And the most recent study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that the seas have absorbed 60% more heat than previously thought, which means that the Earth is more sensitive to fossil fuel emissions, making it much more difficult to keep global warming within safe levels this century.
We are rapidly destroying nature, our life support system, but we have the knowledge and the skills to change this path. We are in urgent need of effective, multi-stakeholder action of a magnitude never seen before to
change the current trajectory of human life on Earth: from self-extinction, to survival and thriving together, with all the ecosystems and forms of life on Earth.
VISION
The Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, together with the Governments of Egypt and China, are launching the
Action Agenda for Nature and People to inspire and take meaningful steps towards building a future global sustainable economy. The Agenda is meant for the benefit, prosperity, and well-being of all countries and people to achieve the Convention’s Vision of Living in Harmony with Nature by 2050.
Through promoting nature's fundamental role in our economic, social, and ecological systems, as the infrastructure supporting life on Earth and human sustainable development, the Agenda will enable a
paradigm shift in the human-nature relationship: from abuse and neglect to respect, value and sustainability.
The platform aims to accelerate the transformations needed to achieve the three objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: conservation; sustainable use; and equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the utilization of genetic resources. The Action Agenda will also contribute to enhancing the implementation of the Strategic Plan on Biodiversity 2011-2020, in its remaining two years, while supporting the design of an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, for adoption at COP15.
OBJECTIVES
The Action Agenda has three main objectives: 1.
Raise public awareness about the urgent need to stem biodiversity loss and restore biodiversity health for the sake of humanity and the global ecosystem; 2.
Inspire and help implement nature-based solutions to meet key global challenges; 3.
Catalyze cooperative initiatives across sectors and stakeholders in support of the global biodiversity goals.
PLATFORM
The Action Agenda for Nature and People will be hosted on an
online platform to receive and showcase concrete commitments and contributions to biodiversity, from stakeholders across all sectors, in the run-up to COP15, to be held in 2020 in Beijing, China. This will enable the mapping of global efforts on biodiversity, in order to estimate impact and to identify key gaps.
The Nature Action Agenda will also entail specific action areas linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A special emphasis will be placed on the Nature-Climate-Oceans-Water-Land nexus.
We invite and will encourage the announcement of other initiatives from state and non-state actors to raise ambition both in the field of conservation, sustainable use and access and benefit sharing, and in mainstreaming biodiversity solutions and conservation measures across all sectors. We intend to later announce specific ideas to champion and further mobilize support to the Action Agenda.
