Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad has affirmed the country’s support for all United Nations (UN) initiatives to protect global biological diversity.
This support will contribute to achieving the UN’s global sustainable development goals (SDGs), preserve life on Earth, and protect human beings at the health, economic, and environmental levels.
During her speech at a virtual meeting to support the UN’s biodiversity system, Fouad added that achieving the SDGs requires all countries to work together to promote development, taking into account protection of the planet.
She noted that the eradication of poverty, for instance, must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and meet social needs. These include education, health, social protection, and increasing employment opportunities, whilst addressing climate change and environmental protection.
The speech was delivered on the minister’s behalf by Hamad Allah Zidan, Adviser to the Minister for Egypt’s Presidency of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The convention includes 195 countries, in addition to the European Union (EU).
In the speech, Fouad indicated that the protection and preservation of biological diversity achieves 14 of the UN’s SDGs, benefits the human being, and links them more to the environment. This also contributes to preserving the natural resources to protect the economic, cultural and social life.
Fouad highlighted the need to make the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic a turning point in our lives. This should see countries urged to take bold decisions to build a future in which the world responds with firmness and solidarity to stop the depletion and waste of biological diversity.
