Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad has highlighted the need for world institutions and governments to cooperate on environmental challenges facing the world.
Fouad’s remarks came during her participation in the closing session of the third United Nations Forum for Science, Policy and Business on Environment, on Sunday. The event was held under the theme “Peace with Nature: The Critical Mission of the Twenty-first Century”.
The forum came on the sidelines of the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), which was held online.
The meeting discussed the most important global environmental concerns, as well as the most critical challenges facing multilateral environmental action. It highlighted the need to renew commitment to the environmental dimension, to achieve sustainable development goals by stakeholders and environmental action partners.
During her speech, Fouad stressed the need to add the element of global partnership and international cooperation to the three elements: government policies; science; and business at the global and national levels.
She said that partnerships are what bind stakeholders together, and that there is a need to link the requirements of local communities with national needs. This would then link in with the global perspective, due to the environment facing transboundary challenges.
“These challenges include protecting and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, coping with global warming, adapting to climate change, and strengthening our resilience to natural disasters, infectious diseases and emerging epidemics,” Fouad said.
The minister added that when addressing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is necessary to consider the local conditions of communities and how to transform unsustainable patterns into more sustainable patterns.
Fouad noted that we should obtain a full knowledge of the local customs prevalent among local communities, as well as their daily practices.
She said that these practices mean the difference between ensuring sustainability and preserving natural resources and biodiversity.
