DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga as Panelist at the High Level Panel: Progress in tackling biodiversity loss since Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adoption at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly

Topic: What are the efforts of the Philippines to achieve its NBSAP targets and accelerate progress on the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework?

Thank you very much for that question, and good evening to everyone.

To meet the 30×30 targets by the end of the decade, we’ve already heard that protected areas and land would need to double, and those in the ocean would need to more than quadruple as an archipelagic and megadiverse country, the Philippines is firmly committed to the intersecting goals of biodiversity conservation, climate action, and sustainable development.

By 2030, with the overarching goal of contributing to the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature to the historic adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the 15th Meeting of the Parties of the Convention of Biological Diversity in 2022, the Philippines is now actively pursuing, determine a pragmatic action to accelerate the GBF Framework’s implementation.

Our efforts and conquests include a thorough revision of our national biodiversity strategy and action plan as well as the recent launch of the 30×30 initiative in the country. We believe we must measure what we treasure through the following:

1. First, we’ve identified and continue to identify and value our critical ecosystems by establishing a national natural resource geospatial database as the physical basis for our natural capital accounting system, and our development planning.

2. Secondly, we have adopted and continue to adopt a holistic and climate and disaster risk sensitive national biodiversity and national action plan with specific targets and financing mechanisms to improve adaptive management and governance, and invest in strengthening capacities that deliver specific conservation outcomes.

3. Third, we are addressing the intersecting crisis of biodiversity laws, climate change and pollution to advancing legislation by adding new protected areas. 8 more to the 248 that we already have. A science-informed decision-making structure will be supported by public and private investments in two ways: firstly, by establishing a new network of action research stations in our marine biogeographic regions. The enhancement are reef protection, and the implementation of focus species protection action plans for our endangered endemic species. And secondly, through the implementation of polluter phase-based laws and regulations.

4. We are developing strategic and critical engagements to include representation of diverse ecosystem and habitat through strengthening partnerships with our indigenous people and local communities. This will build on traditional and local knowledge and mainstream it, as well as catalyze a more just and equitable approach to achieving system-wide resilience.

5. Fifth, we are recognizing the significant role of the private sector in advancing nature-based solutions, green technologies, and knowledge transfer for inclusive development.

The Philippines is launching a 30×30 national network to promote public-private partnerships in protected area management, green and blue projects, and in mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in extractive industry operations.

We are committed to advancing the circular economy as well through sustainable production and consumption, and the substitution, reduction, reuse and repurposing of plastic material.

We join everyone here today in an effort to unlock innovation, and implement integrated and ecosystem-based strategies for conservation, restoration, and regeneration.

I also wish to announce that tomorrow we will be signing the BBNJ, and the Philippines will be hosting the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which is vital to our continuing effort, in 2024.

We stand with the global call of a new paradigm for how we address environmental issues to enhance multilateralism and whole-of-society and systems-approaches to all these complex risks.

Together, we believe we can create a more resilient and sustainable future, and one where no community and no ecosystem is indeed left behind.

Let’s turn our pledges today into action.

Thank you and mabuhay.