November 16th, 2022 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt
Biodiversity Day took place on Wednesday November 16th at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. The day aimed at advancing and institutionalizing action towards valuing, conserving and sustainably using biodiversity across terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems to reduce climate change impacts and leverage nature-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change and build resilience for people and nature.
On the Presidency stage, the Day started with an opening ceremony hosted by the COP27 Egyptian Presidency and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), introducing and guiding the day across three pillars focused on the biodiversity and climate nexus (Present), then addressing successful solutions benefiting nature, climate and people (Hope) and finally discussing how to scale urgent action for climate and nature (Vision). The opening ceremony witnessed the announcement of the Egyptian Presidency, within a speech conveyed by H.E. Min. of Environment Dr Fouad to put its coral reef in the Red Sea & associated ecosystems under protection.
Throughout the Day, numerous high-level speakers from government, international and regional financial institutions and private sector, in addition to representatives from indigenous communities and civil society took part in the discussions on the Presidency stage; among them, the Egyptian Minister of Environment, the Executive Director of UNEP and the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. They collectively emphasized the urgent need for integrated responses at scale to address the climate biodiversity nexus, and the need to have an international policy landscape that commits, encourages and enables coherent and urgent action.
Biodiversity Day was also the occasion for the COP27 Presidency to launch the biodiversity flagship initiative “ENACT - Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for Climate Transformation” with the aim of securing up to 2.4 billion hectares of healthy natural ecosystems, through restoration, protection, and sustainable management. This also aims to enhance the protection and resilience of 1 billion vulnerable people by leveraging nature-based solutions. In addition to the ENACT initiative, other highlights of the day included the strong emphasis on the interlinkage between biodiversity and climate change, the key role of indigenous peoples and local communities in protecting biodiversity as well as the different solutions introduced to protect and restore biodiversity while addressing climate change impacts. Solutions included examples from Egypt, Malawi, the USA, Costa Rica, Peru and Germany among others. The day also stressed the importance of leveraging climate finance for biodiversity, including the use of blended finance and the necessity to develop projects that include both biodiversity & climate change to improve their bankability. Other key highlights included featuring the importance to bridge ongoing efforts with the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity - COP15 in December 2022.
Beyond the Presidency stage, several events dedicated to preserving and restoring biodiversity were held at the Egyptian Pavilion. Among these, the sessions included “Addressing biodiversity and deforestation to mitigate climate change - Supporting Glasgow commitments and Egypt's led ecosystem-based approach initiative” and “Creating a soundscape using the sounds of healthy reefs” co-hosted by Google.
In parallel, the Green Zone was host to a number of important events such as the session on “How #Conscioustech is Saving Coral Reefs and Reviving Marine Biodiversity” and the session on “Migratory Soaring Birds Project: Integrating protection of migratory soaring birds into Egypt’s renewable energy sector to safe migrating birds”. These events further emphasized the relationship between climate and biodiversity and introduced efficient, innovative solutions to address the nexus.
Biodiversity Day will be followed by Solutions Day, on November 17th. Solutions Day will create a space to promote climate action through innovative solutions, covering 5 sub-themes: sustainable cities, sustainable transport, waste management, ICT, communication and tech as well as the role of climate entrepreneurship and private sector.
