Context
- Recently, the President of France has inaugurated One Planet Summit 2021 for Biodiversity Convened under the theme of “Let’s act together for nature!”.
Key Highlights
- At least 50 countries committed to protecting 30% of the planet, including land and sea, to halt species extinction and address climate change issues.
- France has announced the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which was launched in 2019 by Costa Rica, France and Britain to set a target of protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030, has now been joined by 50 countries.
- The summit also launched a program called PREZODE which French President presented as an unprecedented international initiative to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases and pandemics.
About One Planet Summit 2021
- It is organized by France in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank.
- The summit is convened under the theme of “Let’s act together for nature”.
- The Summit will bring together heads of state and government, leaders of international organizations, financial institutions, companies and NGOs to demonstrate that their commitments are leading to concrete actions to preserve and restore biodiversity.
The one-day summit focused on four major topics:
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- Protecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems: Protected areas, and the conservation of the species that live there, play a key role in the protection and restoration of biodiversity and will be a determining factor in achieving a reversal of the current trend.
- Promoting agroecology, a more sustainable way to grow food: It makes it possible to protect the diversity of ecosystems by reducing pollution while allowing more job creation and acting for food security.
- Increasing funding to protect biodiversity: The new commitments of innovative funding and initiatives to direct more public and private investment towards projects for the protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems.
- Identifying links between deforestation and the health of humans and animals: The summit will make it possible to work better together to prevent future pandemics, through the fight against deforestation and the prevention of risks related to our contact with wild species.
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