CBD COP15: New African Development Bank, WWF study calls for urgent attention and increased investment in Africa’s biodiversity | African Development Bank

The African Development Bank and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have launched a regional report on the performance of African countries under the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

The report highlights the important role multilateral development banks can play in achieving biodiversity goals through advisory services, capacity building, market research and links with other relevant partners.

The assessment, launched on the sidelines of the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) in Montreal, Canada, is based on the 6^e National Biodiversity Reports Submitted by African Countries in 2018 -2020.

Lecturer. Kalemani Jo Mulongoy, president and co-founder of the Institute for Enhanced Livelihoods and former head of the Scientific, Technical and Technological Affairs Division of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, presented the report’s findings.

She said: “It is critical for Africa to adopt a framework with targets that will not only curb biodiversity loss, but also increase the opportunities to improve the lives of many Africans, especially those who depend on relying on biodiversity for survival, taking into account Africa’s biodiversity priorities.”

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 outlines a framework of action for all countries and stakeholders to protect biodiversity and its benefits for people.

Conclusions of the synthesis of the 6^e national reports on biodiversity support Africa’s position in the post-2020 GBF negotiations. The reports shed light on the status of biodiversity in Africa in relation to the implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans. This information, together with Africa’s biodiversity priorities and the Bank’s High Five targets, will serve as the basis for negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity targets.

WWF’s Innocent Maloba said: “The immediate goal following the approval of the GBF is to update NBSAPs to ensure they reflect the GBF ambition ambition, and to begin developing national biodiversity funding plans. ” He also called for a multi-sectoral approach to biodiversity conservation to achieve post-2020 GBF targets.

Vanessa Ushie, acting director of the African Development Bank’s African Natural Resources Management and Investment Center, said: “There is a unique opportunity to fund the implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in Africa, if we invest in natural capital and building an asset base of nature-sensitive investments that protect, restore and sustainably use biodiversity and natural resources.”

Speaking to the country panel, Jeanne Ntain, CBD contact point for Ivory Coast, stressed the importance of raising awareness among decision-makers about biodiversity issues and about the implications of implementing the next GBF: “Otherwise, what we are doing here at COP15 is of no value” .

Ousseynou Kasse, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, thanked the African Development Bank for its continued support to the African negotiating team.

Arona Soumare, Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer at the African Development Bank, stressed the opportunities to scale up public and private financing for biodiversity and the need to achieve ambitious GBF, in line with countries’ development priorities and using all existing financial instruments.

Mrs. Prudence Galega, former policy advisor and permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Environment in Cameroon, led the session. She called on the African Development Bank to strengthen support from African countries to address the challenges of sustainable development and biodiversity loss in an integrated manner.

Click here to read the reports.