Informal meeting of Environment Ministers Luxembourg 22 July Introductory remarks by Inger Andersen Director General IUCN

Transcription

1 Informal meeting of Environment Ministers Luxembourg 22 July 2015 Introductory remarks by Inger Andersen Director General IUCN Madam Chair, Ministers, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me first to express my deepest appreciation to the Luxembourg Presidency for inviting me to share some points with you on the imperative of biodiversity conservation and on the IUCN Programme. IUCN. As you probably know, IUCN is the oldest and largest environmental organization in the world. Established in 1948, before there were Ministries of Environment and before we had the multilateral environmental agreements, and indeed before you could go to university and study environmental science, the IUCN founders had the vision to see that to enhance conservation and management of the environment, you would need to combine action of governments, of civil society and of scientists and experts in their fields. IUCN is therefore made up of all three, and most of the governments in the room today are indeed IUCN Members. A unique organization. So IUCN was established some 67 years ago, before the lines between governmental and non-governmental became as sharply drawn as they are today. The two member categories governmental and non-governmental combined with the more than 15,000 Members of the six IUCN Commissions, offer a powerful platform for knowledge generation, for informing policy choices based on data and evidenced and for real results on the ground, though our project work. Overview of talk. Today, I wish to speak on three simple topics, (1) the current state of the world s biodiversity and the imperative of urgent action, (2) the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and the IUCN-EU 1

2 collaboration in this regard and, finally, (3) the IUCN Programme for the period Significance of SDGs. I was extremely pleased to note that this morning's discussion would focus on the SDGs. These new goals offer us the great opportunity to integrate environmental stewardship and sustainability across all dimensions, across all sectors and across all countries, developed or developing. This integration across all themes is critical as we cannot allow for "environmental results" to be considered as a category unto itself. Planetary boundaries. Today, we know that we are pressing against the very planetary boundaries of our world and we understand that unless we recognize that reality, and work with nature, as opposed to against nature, we will undermine the very security of the human existence on earth as we know it. So, yes, the planet is at a crossroads. Today, our generation holds an immense responsibility. Never before have the lines been more starkly drawn: Essentially what we do or what we do not do, will determine the very future of the planet as we know it. The weight of this responsibility is enormous and the task before us imperative. Climate crisis 25 years ago... I have often reflected that the species and ecosystem crisis is, in a way, in a similar position to where we were with climate change some years ago. At the time, we knew that climate change might be likely, but it was not well understood; the science was weak and we could not fully project future scenarios; there was a realization that action was needed, but it seemed impossible to find viable, base-load energy alternatives; and it was clear that financing would be imperative, but people could not imagine that you could create financial incentives and trade something as intangible as CO 2 emissions....is rather similar to where we are on biodiversity today. Ministers, this is where the species and ecosystem crisis is today. We know that we are losing species at an alarming rate; we know that urgent action is needed; the science on what happens, and at which point ecosystems will implode is unclear, and we have not yet figured out how to create financial incentives that can protect our species and our ecosystems and the vital services that they provide for life on earth. So there is much work that our collective action needs to tackle and we do not have much time. 2

3 So we need to urgently step up our conservation efforts, and move forward our work on natural capital accounting, on incentivizing and mobilizing the private sector for net-positive investments, on finding a way forward towards the creation of a circular economy, on valuing and paying for ecosystem services, and on restoring degraded ecosystems so that these non-working landscapes can be put back to work, and thus ease the pressure on pristine ecosystems. Aichi Biodiversity Targets. In 2010, the world came together and agreed the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity , including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Today, as we work to finalize the SDGs, it is critical that we understand that the Aichi Targets must be part and parcel of the SDGs and that there can be no letting go of the Aichi commitments. They are essential for the sustainability of our economies and societies, let alone the planet. Rates of species loss are accelerating. And this matters even more today, five years later, than it did in 2010, because today we have begun to understand the degree to which the species extinction crisis is speeding up. Essentially, we are losing species at a catastrophic rate; a rate speeded up by land use changes, agriculture, urbanization, demographic pressures, overexploitation and climate change. In this context, it is worth noting that the 2 degree temperature rise scenario, which the world is currently aiming for, will likely have extremely dire consequences for species and ecosystems. The IPCC has projected that a large fraction of terrestrial, freshwater and marine species faces increased extinction risk due to climate change during and beyond the 21st century. It is hard to imagine a world such as that. And yet, for many in Paris, the 2 degree scenario will be considered a great success. IUCN in Europe. In Europe, good strides have been made, but much more is needed. IUCN has been pleased to work proactively in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to In this context, allow me to highlight our work in support of each of the targets in the Strategy. On Target 1, which focuses on the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, IUCN has been pleased to support the development of the European Red List. At this point, some 10,000 species have been assessed, but much more is of course needed. The new IUCN Green List of Protected Areas is identifying and raising the profile of well- 3

4 managed protected areas. In Europe, IUCN has listed Protected Areas in a number of countries, including France, Spain and Italy. With respect to Target 2, which addresses the maintenance and restoration of ecosystems and habitats, IUCN is working with many of the EU countries on the roll out of what we refer to as "Nature-based Solutions" or, in other words, promoting the integration of "nature's infrastructure" to our development and planning processes: The coastal forest that provides protection from waves and wind; the delta that absorbs the pressures of floods and high tides; the sand dunes that provide a buffer to the sea; the forests and meadows that provide filters and help pollinators multiply. At IUCN, we see an urgent need for architects, engineers, town and city planners to have a deeper and more technical understanding of how best to deploy natural infrastructure, and we are very much looking forward to insights provided on natural infrastructure in the mid-term review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy coming out in September. We need to enhance our university training, our building and planning standards as well as the accompanying incentives to draw nature and nature's infrastructure into our planning and development frameworks. On Target 3, which addresses agriculture and forestry, IUCN calls for an urgent role for both of these sectors to contribute to biodiversity conservation. As agriculture is one of the key sectors causing biodiversity loss, this will be a major turnaround. However, at IUCN we know that biodiversity positive agriculture is entirely feasible and in the long-run will be much more beneficial to both societal as well as agricultural outcomes. A particularly important area is the issue of pollinators bees, insects and some birds that provide key services. Nearly one in 10 wild bee species face extinction in Europe. At IUCN, we have been proactively working on the protection of pollinators through a variety of engagements through the science and though work at the national level. With respect to Target 4, which addresses sustainable fisheries, IUCN is pleased to have worked on the European Red List of Marine Fishes. The European Red List of Marine Fishes tells us that a total of 7.5% of all European marine fish species are threatened with extinction in European waters. This list can be used to measure progress on achieving Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). Today, the European Red List of Marine Fishes shows that MSY has not been achieved. 4

5 Target 5 addresses the critical issue of invasive species, and IUCN's Invasive Species Specialist Group is working on most of the EU countries identifying invasive species and offering technical and scientific advice. And finally, Target 6, which addresses the EU's contribution to global biodiversity conservation. Here, IUCN is working with the European Commission, as a donor and partner, and with many of the individual member countries who are supporting IUCN's work beyond Europe, though our network of 60 IUCN country offices. Once gone - gone forever. So much work is being done, and there really are solutions to many of our challenges. This is not a hopeless situation, but the planet is in peril and once a species is lost, it is gone forever, and there is no turning back. IUCN Programme. This then brings me to the last point that I wanted to mention, namely the IUCN Programme. The IUCN Programme for 2017 to 2020 will determine the direction of conservation efforts for the next 4 years and beyond. This programme is being reviewed and consulted upon over the course of this year and will be presented to our Members for endorsement at the IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in Hawai'i in September of The draft programme is composed of three pillars: Valuing and conserving nature. This pillar refers to IUCN's "heartland", working on nature conservation, on species, on protected areas and on natural heritage. However, in valuing nature, we also refer to the intrinsic value that nature holds for nature's sake, as well as the natural capital dimensions that I discussed earlier. We will focus on both in our work. On the latter, it is clear that more work is needed to have a better understanding of the cost of species loss and ecosystem losses. While good progress has been made on natural capital and on valuation of ecosystem services, there is a clear need to understand how species losses impact our world. All the more so given that we are, as I mentioned earlier, experiencing a dramatic and dangerous species extinction crisis. In tackling this crisis, however, it is not enough to merely work inside the safe space of the environment conservation world. We have done so for six decades and our impact has not been adequate. So there is an urgent need to reach out to those actors and sectors that impact on species and on ecosystems so 5

6 that they can change their footprint and impact: agriculture, industry, private sector, extractives, urban sector, and many more. Effective and Equitable Governance of Nature s Use. The world is facing a number of global challenges, which have impacted how resources are used and shared. From global agreements to local arrangements, IUCN will work to ensure that the rights and responsibilities for management and governance of nature's use are adequately addressed. This is all the more important in the current context, where good governance of natural resources is critical in the face of the current challenges. Through this pillar, the Programme contributes, in particular, to Aichi Target 16 (Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is in force) and Target 18 (Traditional knowledge respected and reflected in implementation of the Convention). Deploying Nature-based Solutions to address societal challenges. In line with what I mentioned previously, here our work is aimed at improving the understanding of what constitutes Nature-based Solutions by exploring the key parameters that improve their efficacy while maintaining or enhancing their socio-ecological underpinnings and promoting their uptake and up-scaling. Madam Chair, Ministers, you know better than anyone else the challenges and the pressures we are putting upon our environment. Our planet truly is at a crossroads. We cannot continue our current path. However, this is not a lost cause. There are solutions: Naturebased Solutions. But the time is now. The responsibility of our generation is enormous. From IUCN's side, we look forward to a continued strong relationship with our EU Members and with the European Commission as, together, we tackle the most singularly urgent challenge of our time. I thank you. 6