On behalf of the EU, the European Commission will, on 28 September, approve the ‘Leaders’ Pledge for Nature’ - a non-binding UN instrument - to send a united political signal for more ambitious global biodiversity goals.
The EU Council gave its authorisation for this on Monday 21 September.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will endorse this voluntary declaration at the Leaders for Nature and People event in the margins of the UN Biodiversity Summit (see EUROPE 12557/4).
The text confirms the leaders’ commitment to take all necessary actions to meet the UN vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050.
It stresses that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation require urgent and immediate global action. It emphasises the need to redouble efforts to address the interlinked challenges of biodiversity loss, land, freshwater and ocean degradation, deforestation, pollution and climate change in an integrated and coherent manner.
It contains the commitment to put biodiversity, climate and the wider environment at the heart of post-Covid-19 recovery strategies. The aim is to ensure that the response to the health and economic crisis is green, fair and contributes to sustainable societies. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)