The impacts of climate change, pollution and the loss of biodiversity are the most pressing environmental challenges for our planet.
From 7 to 19 December 2022, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will hold its second part of its 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Montreal. This paramount meeting is supposed to adopt the post 2020 global biodiversity framework.
In 2022, the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will coordinate the United Nations five Regional Economic Commissions (RECs), which also comprise of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).
One key activity will be the organization of a high-level event of the RECs at the CBD COP-15. This will give the opportunity to highlight the regional contribution to achieve a global goal: to save biodiversity on Earth by implementing SDG 14 (“Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”) and SDG 15 (“Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”).
RECs will showcase how the commissions are working to aligning biodiversity targets into their portfolio’s of work and explaining the governance models in place to enhance coordination and technical support on biodiversity. The event will pinpoint a joint message of collaboration and collective action, with best practices across regions, on key enablers of progress and broad stakeholder engagement to advance specific goals or targets of the post 2020 framework.
Executive Secretaries of the five RECs will share their visions how the loss of biodiversity will be halted in the regions and will propose an action-oriented announcement supporting an UN common approach on biodiversity.
A celebrity (tbc) will share her insight from preserving the environment in rural communities and her vision on how to combine conserving wildlife habitats, protecting the environment and at the same time alleviating rural poverty, including women’s empowerment.
Event date and time: 15 December 2022, still to be determined by CBD
Format: in-person, hybrid or virtual (tbd by RECs)
Contact (focal point): marco.keiner[at]un.org and elena.santer[at]un.org