Rwanda’s Minister of Environment Demands Immediate Action on Global Biodiversity Framework – IUCN Backs the Call!
Min Mujawamariya giving a closing remarks at the International Biodiversity Day celebration.
By Ange de la Victoire
Rwanda’s Minister of Environment, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, has urged for immediate action to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as a crucial tool in addressing biodiversity loss.
The call was made on Monday, May22, 2023 during the celebration of International Biodiversity Day2023, with the theme “From Agreement to Action: Building Back Biodiversity.”
Minister Mujawamariya said that “This year’s theme, “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity,” reminds us that we must move beyond the agreement and take concrete steps”
“Today, we have learned more about the importance of biodiversity, we navigated the meaning of the Global Biodiversity framework (GBF) that we, as parties have adopted last December in Montreal and the actions we must take to implement it.” She said.
The “Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” was adopted by the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 19 December 2022.
The adoption of the “Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” followed the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity whose implementation has been slow since its adoption.
According to Ms. Kaori Yasuda, IUCN Rwanda Country Representative, “Today is a very important landmark because we need to take urgent action to implement global biodiversity framework.”
“In 2010, there was a Convention on Biological Diversity which was adopted during the 10th meeting in Japan and at that time, they agreed on the biodiversity framework, but in reality, from 2011 to 2020, biodiversity decline continued despite, and none of the targets were achieved.” Ms. Kaori said,
She noted that “IUCN stands ready to assist government of Rwanda and other stakeholders in implementing global biodiversity framework.” adding that “in order to make it happen, it’s very important to involve all actors including local communities and indigenous people.”
Ms. Kaori YASUDA, IUCN Country Representative addressing participants at today’s Event
Ms. Kaori also noted that “in order to succeed the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, we need to take actions on spatial planning and then restoration work, and then connecting terrestrial landscapes and seascapes.”
“It’s very important we track progress against science-based indicators for this new post-2020 framework. And that’s the theme from agreement to action.” Ms. Kaori added.
