Initiative on biodiversity loss, protecting vulnerable people launched at UN climate summit

ISTANBUL

An initiative to mitigate the impact of climate change on biodiversity loss and vulnerable communities was launched at the 27th UN Climate Conference (COP27).

The Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation (ENACT) initiative was unveiled after a session on Connecting Climate and Biodiversity “that set the agenda to address the urgent need for integrated responses at scale,” according to a COP27 statement issued on Wednesday.

The ENACT initiative aims to “enhance the protection from and resilience to climate impacts of at least 1 billion vulnerable people, including at least 500 million women and girls,” the statement said.

It will also secure up to 2.4 billion hectares of healthy natural and sustainable agricultural ecosystems, through protecting 45 million hectares, sustainable management of 2 billion hectares, and restoration of 350 million hectares.

The initiative will significantly bolster “global mitigation efforts through protecting, conserving, and restoring carbon-rich terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems,” the statement added.

The main focus areas of ENACT are food security and land productivity; adaptation and disaster risk reduction; oceans and sustainable blue economy; urban resilience; green-grey infrastructure; nature-based solutions in national and subnational mitigation strategies; mobilizing private investment in nature-based solutions; and health, climate and nature-based solutions.

“Biodiversity on our planet is at the heart of people’s economic, social, and cultural wellbeing, but climate change is accelerating biodiversity loss around the globe,” said COP27 President and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

“The rapid destruction of ecosystems is increasing our vulnerability to the impact of climate change. We cannot address biodiversity loss without ramping up our implementation of climate solutions. They are not mutually exclusive.”

He added that initiatives such as ENACT are part of the Egyptian COP27 Presidency’s efforts to “champion the integration of well-coordinated nature-based solutions on a global scale that are as urgent as our response to climate change.”