During this week’s ministerial meeting in Iceland, the Nordic ministers for the environment agreed to send a joint letter to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to address the importance of setting the bar high in order to fulfill the new targets that will take effect after 2020.
International studies show that species are disappearing and that ecosystems are being damaged and destroyed at a pace that threatens the living conditions of our own and future generations.
Under the UN CBD, the nations of the world are working together to stem such losses by preserving nature and transforming the industries that make use of natural resources – primarily agriculture, fishing, forestry, and tourism.
The CBD is very important, and now that our biodiversity targets are to be revised, it’s vital that we set the bar high for new targets and that we strive even more purposefully to achieve them. We need to focus on the synoptic links between biodiversity and other environmental challenges, including the fight against desertification and climate change,
…says Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources of Iceland, which holds the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019.
The ministers for the environment also decided that the Nordic countries should share their positive experiences in relation to the harmonisation of legislation, policies, and administrative practices for climate and biodiversity targets, as well as participate in the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019 on the topic of nature-based solutions.
Last autumn, the Nordic Council also decided to give young people a stronger voice in international negotiations on biodiversity and in following up the new targets.
The Nordic ministers for the environment are requesting that the Nordic Council of Ministers follows up the initiative with a project that ensures that the views of children and young people are taken into account in efforts relating to the new framework for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
The conservation of nature is also a priority area of the Icelandic presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019.
We’ll be hosting an international conference in the latter half of 2020 where we will bring together the Nordic institutions in charge of managing protected areas,
…explains Guðbrandsson.
