ABCG Director, Rubina James participated in a panel organized by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) and Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) to discuss the future of protected areas in the Congo Basin, during the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15), that was held in Montreal Canada in December 2022.
COP15 Demands for Action from World Leaders
The following are Wednesday December 07, 2022 highlights from ongoing UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15), in Montreal Canada. Highlights originally summarized in the, What’s Buzzing in Montreal: Wednesday 7 December 2022, WWF newsletter.
ABCG at the Conference of Parties #COP15 Montreal Canada
The fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15) will be taking place in Montreal, Canada, December 7-19, 2022. This important meeting of the decade has three objectives, the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
ABCG LAUNCHES BREATHE PODCAST
ABCG has today, October 19 2022, launched a new podcast series called BREATHE. BREATHE is a podcast series looking to have illuminating discussions around conservation by highlighting the work of individuals and organizations across Africa who are changing the planet for the better one day at a time
Gender Equality Today For a Sustainable Tomorrow: International Women’s Day Message
On this International Women’s Day (IWD) and every day, the members of ABCG join our colleagues and friends in applauding and lauding the critical role women play in climate change mitigation, land, and natural resource management and universally to their contributions to sustainable development and society in general.
What are the next steps post COP26: Are we on the right track?
We strongly believe that the UN Climate Change Conference and subsequent meetings are necessary and worthwhile to helping achieve some of ABCG’s biggest objectives, including mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into economic development at the community level in African countries, reaching women and youth. We are particularly encouraged by private sector commitments, as well as climate financing, pledged to advance the roles and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Founder of ABCG Member Organization, the Jane Goodall Institute, Wins 2021 Templeton Prize
The naturalist Jane Goodall has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Templeton prize in recognition of her life’s work on animal intelligence and humanity. Goodall, 87, built her global reputation on her groundbreaking studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s
World Wildlife Day 2021: Promoting Forest and Forest Management Models and Practices
Happy #WorldWildlifeDay. The 2021, World Wildlife Day theme is, Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet, that highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas.
UNEP Launches a New Scientific Blueprint to Tackle the Climate, Biodiversity and Pollution Emergencies
On Thursday February 18, 2021 UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen officially launched a new report, Making Peace with Nature by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The report was released ahead of the fifth UN Environment Assembly in an online press briefing.
In its official communication of the report, UNEP noted that, “this new report is a scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies. It flags the interlinkages between our environmental and development challenges and describes the roles of all parts of society in the transformations needed for a sustainable future.
“The report, lays out the gravity of the three environmental crises – climate, biodiversity and pollution – by drawing on global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.” UNEP.
The COVID-19 pandemic and other global crisis have shown that human beings are dependent on nature to thrive and survive and that it’s in our best interest to protect nature.
While speaking at the launch of the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “the global economy has grown fivefold in the past five decades but at massive costs to the environment. Governments are still paying more to exploit nature than to protect it, spending 4 to 6 trillion dollars a year on subsidies that damage the environment. We need to transform how we view and value nature reflecting its true value in all our policies, plans and economic systems.
“The only answer is sustainable development that elevates the wellbeing of both people and nature.
“The report shows that we have the knowledge to live in harmony with nature. Bottom line is that we need to transform how we view and value nature.
Report foreword note by UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
This report provides the bedrock for hope. By bringing together the latest scientific evidence showing the impacts and threats of the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis and the pollution that kills millions of people every year, it makes clear that our war on nature has left the planet broken. But it also guides us to a safer place by providing a peace plan and a post-war rebuilding programme. By transforming how we view nature, we can recognize its true value. By reflecting this value in policies, plans and economic systems, we can channel investments into activities that restore nature and are rewarded for it. By recognizing nature as an indispensable ally, we can unleash human ingenuity in the service of sustainability and secure our own health and well-being alongside that of the planet.
Read the report: Making Peace with Nature: A Scientific Blueprint to Tackle the Climate, Biodiversity and Pollution Emergencies, by UNEP