Excellencies,

1) I have the honor to deliver these remarks on behalf of Group of 77 and China.

2) Allow me to begin by appreciating the Co-Chairs of this leadership dialogue – Canada and Ecuador – for their hard work.

3) Today, humanity stands at a crossroads with regard to the legacy it leaves for the future generations.

4) Climate change and biodiversity loss, and the COVID-19 pandemic are among the major challenges that we face today, while persistent levels of poverty, including extreme poverty, inequality, unemployment, social vulnerability, and food insecurity continue to harm developing countries’ capacity to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.

5) As the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting inequalities between and within our countries, there is an urgent need to enhance international cooperation and solidarity and to address the three dimensions of sustainable development in a balanced and integrated manner.

Excellencies,

6) In the past 50 years, the human population has doubled, the global economy has grown nearly fourfold and global trade has grown tenfold, together driving up the demand for energy and materials.

7) At the same time, developing countries have been unable to benefit from many development gains over the last decades, further aggravating their social, economic, and environmental challenges.

8) Many types of pollution, as well as invasive alien species, are increasing, with negative impacts on nature.

9) Seventy-five percent of the land surface is significantly altered, 66 per cent of the ocean area are experiencing increasing cumulative impacts, and over 85 per cent of wetlands have been lost.

10) None of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets are to be fully met, which threaten the achievement of the SDGs.

11) The COVID-19 pandemic has put into bold the importance of the relationship between people and nature, and it reminds us of consequences of loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems on our own well-being and survival.

Excellencies,

12) It is obvious that we must take urgent actions today for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and the fight against climate change.

13) We need to turn the tide on deforestation, land degradation, and pollution and restore balance with our natural ecosystems and foster innovative business models and technologies that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

14) As governments and their partners in the public and private sectors work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we can seize this opportunity to achieve a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient recovery.

15) Many commitments have already been made. We must ensure that they are effectively fulfilled, and that the ongoing negotiations, such as on the adoption of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, are successful.

16) We need a post-2020 framework that promotes the conservation of biodiversity, its sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. But, in particular, we need a framework that includes a substantial increase in finance, capacity building and technology transfer for implementation in developing countries.

17) Let us demonstrate our vision, leadership, and commitment to improve our relationship with nature and place our commitment to conserve, restore, and sustainable use biodiversity and to address climate change at the heart of sustainable development policies.

18) We believe it is the time to accelerate actions, to put nature on a path to recovery by 2030 to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We must also put the environment as a whole – be it biodiversity, the ocean, climate – at the center of our COVID-19 recovery strategies. Science, technology, and capacity building can support such transformation to sustainable and resilient recovery.

19) Finally, the Group also believes that discussion outside the existing multilaterally agreed frameworks and conventions must not undermine the work and negotiations under these frameworks.

I thank you.