High-Level Event on Raising Ambition for Nature

– As delivered –

Remarks by H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly

20 April 2021

Ms. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Excellencies,

Thank you for the opportunity to join you today. I commend the Like-Minded Group on Biodiversity for organizing this discussion and for continuing to raise awareness on this critical issue.

We are here today because we already know how important this issue is, so you will forgive me for skipping the facts and figures on extinction rates and biodiversity loss. The plain truth is we have not done enough to protect the environment and we need to do more. The question we should be asking now is: what are the most pressing and urgent actions needed now for transformative change.

On this, I would stress three key points.

First, we must continue to make progress on the ‘Road to Kunming’ and the goal of a 2020 Framework on Biodiversity.

Member States clearly expressed support for this in September 2020 at the UN’s first Biodiversity Summit and through the Leader’s Pledge that was released concurrently. This call has only been emphasized in the period since. We must continue to push for action and utilize the upcoming COP-level summits on climate; biodiversity; and desertification, land degradation and drought to underscore the importance of this issue. All these areas are interconnected, and we cannot miss the opportunity to tie them together.

I am pleased to say that the General Assembly is continuing its effort to build political support through a series of High-Level meetings and dialogues. The first, on Water, has already taken place. We have more coming up on Oceans and on Deforestation, Land Degradation and Drought.

The second, we must utilize the opportunity presented by COVID-19 and the largest socio-economic recovery the world has ever undertaken to strengthen our relationship with the natural world.

For all its tragedy, COVID has also opened a window of possibility in the public and political spheres and given us the chance to push for transformational change. Let us use this and ensure that our recovery efforts are guided by the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda, and help protect both ‘life on land’ and ‘life below water’.

And finally, we must undertake broad efforts to raise awareness of this issue. While each of us here is aware of the interconnected nature of these issues, most people have little knowledge of zoonotic diseases, or extinction rates, or of the linkages between climate, desertification, and biodiversity. This is an oversight that will harm our progress.

If there is one lesson which the COVID pandemic has taught us, it is the interconnected nature of the world in which we live in and that the challenges this throws up shows that we simply cannot address environmental, social and economic issues in silos.

Biodiversity loss and the loss of ecosystems are not merely environmental issues; these losses affect our health, our wealth, and our resilience. Some estimates put the value of ecosystem services at more than US$33 trillion. Clearly, we must move to tackle these issues together, and everyone must understand why.

Given this, I commend the launch of the Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services Project by the UN Statistics division and DESA. This will help to measure our wealth, not simply by our economic output, but by the wealth of our natural capital as well. I ask that as results become available, we work with the UN Department of Global Communications and partners to ensure broad and creative public awareness and advocacy to share our findings and back up our response.

Dear colleagues, I thank you again for the opportunity to speak and commend you for continuing to carry on this conversation and to raise ambition ahead of Kunming. I wish you the best in your discussions and thank you very much.