Namibia exceeds global biodiversity target of terrestrial and marine ecosystem protection
Namibia has exceeded by far its Aichi Target of 2011-2020 by having 17% terrestrial and 10% of marine ecosystems under protection.
Achievement of Global Biodiversity Aichi Target 11 under the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 on expanding protected areas, both terrestrial and marine, has carried important weight in reducing the loss of biodiversity.
Applauding Namibia on this achievement, Dr. Cristiana Pasca Palmer, UN Assistant Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity last week at the Senior Level Briefing Session on Biodiversity Finance in Windhoek, said that the loss of biodiversity induces loss of ecosystem services, which in turn will hamper the achievement of critical priorities related to food security, water provision and resilience to climate change.
“Namibia has been at the forefront of using economic valuation methodologies for showcasing the benefits generated by ecosystems and biodiversity, including through its work on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB Namibia. The recent inventory of ecosystem services in Namibia is an important milestone. We need to learn from this work and profile the results for others to also benefit,” said Palmer,
However, Palmer added that having a better understanding of the different values of ecosystems and biodiversity will help mobilize additional funding for biodiversityand this alone will not close the financing gap.
“We need to take concrete action and systematically transform sectoral policies and their associated financing, by addressing the root causes of biodiversity decline. In other words, we need to mainstream biodiversity in public and private policy and decision making, including in public budgets at all levels,” Palmer added.
Despite the good progress of Target 11,Palmer said further work is still needed on most of the other 19 Aichi Targets which record much slower progress at global levels.
“Countries still have almost 2 years to make additional and urgent efforts and deliver on the Aichi targets. At the same time, Parties to the UN Biodiversity Convention are debating an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework in order to bring us on track to address biodiversity loss and take the key steps in the coming decade towards achieving the needed transformational change and contribute to the SDGs,” Palmer said.
