Vice President Delivers Video Message At The United Nations Meeting of COP15

On Wednesday, Vice President Faisal Naseem delivered his video message at the United Nations’ fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15). Making his remarks virtually in a video message, the Vice President stated that the ambitions of the United Nations-led Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework should be in agreement with the special circumstances of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Further speaking in the message, the Vice President recalled that the Maldives is a founding member of “Political Vision: The 10 Point Plan for Financing Biodiversity” and highlighted that SIDS is at the forefront of the triple planetary crisis which includes biodiversity loss. Spearheaded by the Maldives together with Ecuador, Gabon and the United Kingdom (UK), the plan urges governments to come together in support of ambitious action for nature. As such, it calls on government bodies to support the protection, conservation, restoration and sustainable use of nature.

Emphasizing on the situation in Maldives, Vice President Faisal Naseem elaborated “We are large ocean states owing to the outstandingly rich biodiversity in our coastal and marine ecosystems. While we look to adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework in a few days, it is imperative to be pragmatic and to ensure the correct means of implementation towards halting and reversing biodiversity loss”.

In his concluding remarks, the Vice President stressed humanity to ensure the continual survival of nature and quoted “we as humans are not responsible for the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of lives within these ecosystems”. He also underscored the importance of remaining within the safe limits of the planetary boundaries and called on the worldwide community to work towards living and existing harmoniously with nature.

The COP15 meeting is being held in Montreal, Canada from the 7^th of December to the 19^th of December 2022. The highlight of this year’s COP15 is the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which outlines the targets and milestones governments must meet by the end of the decade to safeguard the world’s oceans and land, mitigate pesticide use, eliminate plastic waste, and increase financial resources committed to biodiversity.