Global leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched "Leaders' Pledge for Nature: United to Reverse Biodiversity Loss by 2030 for Sustainable Development" on Monday demonstrating their commitment for nature, biodiversity and global goals.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a signatory to the initiative with other global leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson.
Political leaders participating in the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity representing countries from all regions and the European Union,
have committed to reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.
By doing so, these leaders are sending a united signal to step up global ambition and encourage others to match their collective ambition for nature, climate and people with the scale of the crisis at hand.
In endorsing this "Pledge for Nature", the global leaders will commit not simply to words, but to meaningful action and mutual accountability to address the planetary emergency.
The signatories to the Leaders' Pledge for Nature have committed to putting wildlife and the climate at the heart of post-pandemic economic recovery plans, promising to address the climate crisis, deforestation, ecosystem degradation and pollution.
The other countries signed, so far, on this issue are included-- Bhutan, Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, EU, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Nethrlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
With this Pledge, they also aim to support the United Nations system and its fundamental role in catalysing the global response to this crisis in the upcoming decisive months and years.
World leaders have pledged to clamp down on pollution, embrace sustainable economic systems and eliminate the dumping of plastic waste in oceans by the middle of the century as part of "meaningful action" to halt the destruction of nature on Earth.
Leaders from five continents warned that humanity is in a state of planetary emergency due to the climate crisis and the rampant destruction of life-sustaining ecosystems.
To restore the balance with nature, governments and the European Union have made a 10-point pledge to counteract the damage to systems that underpin human health and wellbeing.
The commitments include a renewed effort to reduce deforestation, halt unsustainable fishing practices, eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies and begin the transition to sustainable food production systems and a circular economy over the next decade.
The leaders describe the pledge as a "turning point" by which future generations will judge their willingness to act on environmental destruction.
The announcement comes ahead of a major UN biodiversity summit on Wednesday, which will be hosted virtually from New York, and part way through negotiations on a Paris-style international agreement on nature.
According to the pledge: "Science clearly shows that biodiversity loss, land and ocean degradation, pollution, resource depletion and climate change are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. This acceleration is causing irreversible harm to our life support systems and aggravating poverty and inequalities as well as hunger and malnutrition."
The global leaders will join forces in the run up to the key international events and processes taking place throughout 2021, including the G7, the G20, the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the fifth UN Environment Assembly, UNFCCC COP26 and the UN Ocean Conference, aiming to achieve ambitious and realistic outcomes to pave the way for a strong Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
They will urge all stakeholders to join us in making commitments to address the planetary emergency on the road to CBD CoP 15 and beyond.
They will be meeting again next year, and beyond. -UNB
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