Australia continued to support an ambitious post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, signing the Kunming Declaration at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) overnight.
The Kunming Declaration calls for “urgent and integrated” steps to tackle decreasing biodiversity.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley delivered two addresses to the convention, sharing Australia’s lessons learnt from the national government’s $200 million recovery efforts following the Black Summer Bushfires, and highlighting the global challenges faced from changing climate conditions.
She also highlighted the importance of reducing waste and the impacts of plastic and packaging on oceans and landfills.
Ley outlined the government’s plans to increase Australia’s Indigenous Protected Area network by another 3.7 million hectares of land and sea, and to establish two new Australian Marine Parks around the waters of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These would increase the percentage of protected Australian waters up from 37 to up to 45 per cent.
“In supporting the Kunming Declaration, Australia has reiterated its commitment to protecting biodiversity on our shores and continuing to share knowledge to meet global challenges,” Ley said.
She said that as a member of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People and the Global Ocean Alliance, the Morrison Government strongly supports the protection of 30 per cent of the world’s land and 30 per cent of the world’s sea by 2030.
“As one of only 17 ‘megadiverse’ countries in the world, and the only megadiverse developed country that is a party to the CBD, Australia understands the value of biodiversity with our unique native plants, animals and landscapes central to our national identity,” Ley said.
“Australia is well placed to make a substantial contribution to a global target and will work with other nations to see it adopted as part of a Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022.”
For more information visit: www. minister.awe.gov.au
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