Statement
GATINEAU, QC, May 22, 2024
/CNW/ - The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment
and Climate Change, issued the following statement today:
"Today, the world celebrates the International Day for
Biological Diversity. This year's theme is, "Be Part of the Plan"
to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
"We Canadians love our natural surroundings, but few of us stop
to think about the absolutely vital importance of nature and
biodiverse ecosystems to our economic well-being, our health, and
our ability to tackle and adapt to climate change. With
biodiversity declining faster than ever due to human activity, now
is the time for urgent and transformative action to ensure our
children, grandchildren, and many generations to come live in a
world where people and nature co-exist and thrive.
"In 2022, Canada stepped up to
host the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) and played a key role in leading the
world to the Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. This
international Framework lays out a plan to safeguard the world's
nature, halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and put nature
on a path to recovery by 2050.
"Protecting, conserving, and restoring nature is key to
advancing the Global Biodiversity Framework. Backed by over
$5 billion in investments, the
federal government is in the middle of the largest campaign in
Canadian history to conserve nature, with a goal of protecting
30 percent of land and water by 2030 and protecting species at
risk.
"This year, to help implement the ambitious Framework, we will
introduce a federal nature accountability bill, which would
establish an accountability and transparency framework for the
federal government's commitments under the Global Biodiversity
Framework. The bill would provide concrete steps to implement the
commitments at the federal level, including requirements to develop
national biodiversity strategies and report on their
implementation.
"Based on feedback from all levels of government, Indigenous
groups, and stakeholders, Canada
is developing its 2030 National Nature Strategy. The Strategy will
chart a path for how Canada will
implement the Global Biodiversity Framework domestically. It calls
on every sector of society to play a role in building solutions to
support biodiversity. Canada also
launched the Nature Champions Network—an international,
ministerial-level group that advocates for the rapid implementation
of the Framework and works to ensure that all countries deliver
updated domestic biodiversity strategies by COP16 this fall in Colombia.
"Everyone has a role to play in the plan to halt and reverse
biodiversity loss. On this International Day for Biological
Diversity, let us all reflect on how we can take action and be part
of the plan. This is about clean air, clean water, healthy people,
and the thriving ecosystems that sustain life on Earth. The time to
act is now."
SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada