Fiji has expressed significant concerns regarding the ambition and quality of the revised National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan (NBSAP) that is currently being developed. During the Opening Plenary of the COP16 for the Convention on Biological Diversity, Dr. Sivendra Michael, the Permanent Secretary for Environment, emphasized the pressing danger of ecosystem collapse and the necessity for action through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). He also reminded attendees of the commitment to mobilize $20 billion annually by 2025, pointing out a substantial shortfall in financing for developing nations aimed at supporting conservation and restoration initiatives.
Dr. Michael underscored that finance is crucial for implementing collective efforts toward biodiversity protection. He urged all Parties to make significant progress in Cali to overcome the barriers hindering action, warning that failure to address these issues could lead to irreversible losses. He noted that new financial commitments for biodiversity protection in the last 18 months have been limited, complicating efforts to achieve global biodiversity targets.
Additionally, he stated that the combination of inadequate financial mobilization and insufficient national actions poses a threat to achieving critical progress necessary to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030. Dr. Michael insisted that COP16 must produce outcomes that lead to urgent global action to combat humanity’s ongoing destruction of nature and the concerning trends threatening the natural world’s resilience.
Fiji remains committed to meeting the global target and has submitted its revised national biodiversity targets while aligning its NBSAP with the global biodiversity framework. Dr. Michael expressed the urgency of taking decisive actions to not only halt but also reverse the biodiversity crisis by 2030, a goal established in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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