IUCN statement for the G20 Rome Summit
As the Rome Summit begins, IUCN calls on the G20 leaders to step up efforts and live up to their role, demonstrating with clear commitments that building forward better is not only desirable but possible.
Mangrove forests make up one of the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. They grow in a variety of depths of salt water, their roots sticking up out of the mud, with fish, crustaceans and a host of other species living between tree trunks. Their restoration brings benefits to biodiversity and people alike.
Photo: Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay
Amidst an unprecedented global pandemic which still affects our daily lives nearly two years after it started, the challenges humanity is facing continue to mount. Increased social inequalities, conflict, escalating climate and biodiversity emergencies, and unprecedented demand for natural resources are bringing our planet to its knees.
IUCN salutes the leadership of the Italian G20 Presidency and its focus on People, Planet and Prosperity. These priorities align well with the Union’s, and the messages coming out of our recent IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France.
Through the Marseille Manifesto, welcomed by acclamation by IUCN Members, the Union is devoted to empowering people as agents of change, securing life on this planet, and fostering society’s sustainability and prosperity.
People are empowered by:
- respecting and harnessing the voices and agency of all actors – among them youth, women, indigenous and local communities, marginalised people and frontline workers like rangers;
- pursuing collaboration and partnerships across all levels, disciplines and sectors in order to find common ground and inspire action, and
- recognising local action as a powerful tool for change.
Life can only be secured on this planet by:
- committing to adopt and implement a transformative, effective and ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and through it, to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and achieve ecosystem recovery and restoration by 2050;
- confronting the risks and impacts of the climate emergency by urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening adaptation and driving a just transition to a low carbon economy, and
- recognising and supporting the implementation, at scale, of nature-based solutions, thus contributing to conserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change and supporting jobs and livelihoods.
Lastly, society’s sustainability and prosperity will be fostered by:
- committing to a truly nature-based recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and investing at least 10% of the global recovery funds to protect and restore nature;
- reforming financial, economic and regulatory systems to decouple economic growth from natural resource use, and ending subsidies harmful to nature to enable the effective transition to a nature-positive economy, and
- demonstrating leadership to enact the recently declared human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment contributing to social and economic equity across borders.
The G20 countries comprise 60% of the world population, 80% of the global GDP and are responsible for 75% of global exports. As they work to achieve the best for People, Planet and Prosperity, IUCN stands ready to play its part.
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