Joining forces to protect biodiversity worldwide: Commission acts to engage more supporters

On the occasion of the World Wildlife Day, the Commission reiterates its invitation to all world institutions to raise their voices to build the momentum for nature and help convince more governments to be ambitious at the crucial Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP 15) later this year. Exactly a year since the Commission launched its Global Coalition ‘United for Biodiversity’, more than 200 institutions worldwide – national parks, research centres and universities, science and natural history museums, aquariums, botanic gardens and zoos – have already joined forces to tackle the biodiversity crisis.  The Commission has also joined the intergovernmental High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, launched at the One Planet Summit in January this year, actively supporting the goal to conserve at least 30% of land and sea by 2030.

Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said:  “Humanity is destroying nature at an unprecedented rate, and we risk losing nearly 1 million species. This is a direct threat to our own health and wellbeing, as we are fully dependent on the planet’s rich web of life. We must urgently restore balance in our relationship with nature and reverse biodiversity loss. Action starts with awareness and the work done via coalitions like ‘United for Biodiversity’ is crucial to help put our natural environment on the path to recovery.” Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “On this year’s World Wildlife Day and  as we celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of the Global Coalition ‘United for Biodiversity’, we are also highlighting just how much we stand to lose in a world without nature. This is why we are acting with all means to bring aboard more partners worldwide and call upon nations to join the High Ambition Coalition as we come closer to the decisive CoP 15.” With their collections, education and conservation programmes, the institutions forming part of the global coalition are important ambassadors to raise public awareness about the dramatic effects of the current biodiversity crisis.