October 3, 2020
Mr. President
Excellencies
Distinguished Participants,
I have the honour to address this gathering.
Three decades after the Convention on Biodiversity came into effect; there is more global awareness about our dependence on a well-functioning biodiversity, the negative consequences of human action on the ecosystem, and the necessity of international cooperation to avert a likely crisis. However, our action is not commensurate with the immense challenge that we are facing. Global warming and pollution continue unabated triggering climate crisis that upsets among others, species distribution, phenology, population dynamics and community structure.