Fiji has expressed significant concerns regarding the ambition and effectiveness of the updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan (NBSAP) currently being developed. During the Opening Plenary of COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Dr. Sivendra Michael, Permanent Secretary for Environment, emphasized the urgent threat of ecosystem collapse and the necessity for effective actions through the Convention on Biological Diversity. He noted the commitment to mobilize $20 billion annually by 2025 and highlighted the troubling shortfall in financial support for developing countries aimed at protecting and restoring biodiversity.
Dr. Michael stated that unlocking financial resources is crucial for implementing collective efforts and urged all parties at the conference in Cali to overcome obstacles to action. He warned that failing to do so could lead to irreversible losses. He pointed out that new financial commitments for biodiversity protection have been limited in the past 18 months, complicating efforts to achieve global biodiversity goals. This lack of financial mobilization, coupled with inadequate national actions, poses a serious threat to the necessary progress to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
He stressed that COP 16 must produce results that lead to urgent global actions to combat humanity’s detrimental impact on nature and the unsustainable trends affecting the natural world. Dr. Michael reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to the global aims, mentioning that the country has submitted its revised national biodiversity targets and is aligning its NBSAP with the global biodiversity framework. He underscored the importance of taking decisive actions not just to halt but also to reverse the biodiversity crisis by 2030, as agreed in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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