Norway joins important biodiversity initiatives

2021 is an important year for nature and biodiversity worldwide. In connection with the international negotiations on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, Norway has announced that it is joining two groups of countries that are working to save biodiversity.

Norway is joining two ambitious initiatives. The Global Ocean Alliance is led by the UK and aims to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030.

The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People is co-chaired by Costa Rica and France and is championing the goal of protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. Membership of these initiatives gives countries an ambitious joint platform for their work.

“The loss of nature is one of the most serious international crises the world is facing and can only be resolved through closer international cooperation.

“Norway has ambitious goals for safeguarding both nature in our own country and the state of the global environment, and it, therefore, makes sense for us to join both these initiatives,” Minister of Climate and Environment Sveinung Rotevatn said.

“Norway will play an active role in the negotiations, and we will do what we can to put in place ambitious international targets for biodiversity and a system for achieving them,” Rotevatn said.

Norway will use its membership of the two initiatives to focus attention on issues that it is vital to deal with between now and 2030. These include how the world can work towards more sustainable use of the ocean on the basis of the recommendations from the Ocean Panel, and environmental protection as an element of sustainable ocean management.

Protecting land and ocean

Both the Alliance and the Coalition are working towards the inclusion of a target of protecting at least 30% of land and ocean in the global biodiversity framework. Norway has also adopted this position in the negotiations.

“There is clear scientific evidence that it is vital to protect at least 30% of the world in a natural state. This must be reflected in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework,” Rotevatn noted.

“An important priority for Norway will be to work for the targets in the new framework to emphasize the protection of areas that are important for biodiversity and of a variety of habitats and ecosystems, sound management, and the development of well-connected systems of protected areas,” he added.

Norway is already playing a leading role in developing an improved planning, reporting, and review mechanism for the new post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

With a mechanism of this kind, it will be possible to review countries’ collective performance and progress towards the new global targets at regular intervals.

Source: Ministry of Climate and Environment / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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