WSSD Plenary Session – Biodiversity, 26 August 2002

Statement by the Norwegian Minister of the Environment, Børge Brende

[Mr.Chairman,
Honourable Ministers,

We are gathered at a Summit that could and should become the most important international meeting of this decade.

Since we met in Bali we have been reminded again why we cannot afford not to make it happen:

13 million people are threatened by drought and hunger in southern Africa. Millions have been struggling to fight the damaging consequences of extreme weather conditions in Asia, North America and Europe. A vast blanket of pollution threatens food security and human health in South Asia.

Since we met in Bali we have been reminded again why our natural resources are the very foundation on which human welfare and health depends.]

Mr.Chairman,
Honourable Ministers

[Despite the fact that we are repeatedly reminded and have made numerous decisions to do something about it], the alarming rate of biodiversity loss is not slowing down.

We have learned that natural ecosystems are changing from their intact state at about 1,2% annually. That is 11,4% since the Rio Summit.

We have learned that an estimated 40% of the global economy is based on biological products and ecosystem processes, and that humanity loses about 250 billion US dollars through habitat destruction in a single year.

We have learned that the people who are most severely affected by water pollution and land degradation are the poorest people of the world, living in rural areas highly dependent on local biodiversity for their survival.

We know that sustainable management of ecosystems and biodiversity is crucial both in the short and long term; that they are our ultimate source of food, water and shelter. We know that loss of biodiversity undermines the potential for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Now is the time to take real action to change this trend. We must be ambitious and concrete.

We must confirm our commitment to have measures in place to stop the loss of biodiversity by 2010. We should point out how we are going to reach this goal and we should monitor the achievements.

We should establish a scientific panel for biodiversity similar to the one that is in place for climate.

The need for integrating biodiversity concerns in all sectors of society should be acknowledged and acted upon. Economic and environmental policies should be pursued in a mutually supportive way. WTO rules should accommodate necessary environmental measures like efforts to root out trade in illegally logged timber.

The Convention on Biological Diversity was a major achievement in Rio. To be a really effective instrument, the CBD must be followed up by concrete action. We urge all countries to implement recent CBD decisions on access and benefit sharing, alien species and forests.

I will also strongly emphasize the need for early ratification of the Carthagena Protocol on Biosafety. This protocol will be an essential tool for ensuring that biotechnology is developed in a safe and sustainable manner in harmony with the precautionary principle.

Mr. Chairman,

Poverty eradication is impossible without safeguarding the resources that peoples` livelihoods depend upon. UNEP`s focus on poverty eradication through ecosystem management deserves broad support.

I am therefore pleased to announce here that UNEP and Norway together are launching an international partnership to strengthen environmental management capacity as a contribution to poverty eradication in Africa.

Mr.Chairman,
Honourable Ministers

The Secretary General used the phrase " a chance to secure our future" when the WEHAB initiative was proposed. Biodiversity is in fact our insurance for the future; biodiversity is the life insurance of life itself.

Now it is up to us to transform words into action.

[We have the mandate to use the ecosystem approach and strengthen our commitment to the precautionary principle in order to safeguard biodiversity for future generations. I can't see why we should need any more reminders before we do so.

We have the mandate to undertake ambitious actions and commit to ambitious goals to protect human welfare and health from environmental degradation.

We have the mandate to deliver concrete results here in Johannesburg. We cannot afford to fail!]