Deputy Minister N Singh: keynote address during occasion of high level segment plenary of UNCBD CoP16

30 October 2024, Cali, Colombia
“Peace with nature”

Programme director
Distinguished guests, 

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the Republic of South Africa, I extend my heartiest congratulations and sincere gratitude to President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, minister as well as, the people of Colombia, and especially the residents of Cali, for their hospitality in opening their city, hotels, restaurants, homes, and hearts to us all, you are a wonderful people and the world can learn much from your strength and connection to Mother nature, and for bringing that connection, passion and energy to this COP 16, as stark reminder to us all that Mother Nature is in fact in our collective boardrooms and in fact, the one who will have the final say on this planet.

Programme director, in South Africa and many other African countries, we embrace an ancient principle known as UBUNTU, which emphasises the interconnectedness and interdependence of all aspects of existence, recognizing the human, natural, and spiritual elements; We are NATURE, and NATURE is us! However, we have somehow lost this vital connection. We must act now and course-correct to coexist in harmony and at peace with nature.

Programme director, South Africa is one of the megadiverse countries, characterised by exceptional biodiversity, high species richness, and a wide variety of ecosystems. We fully support the conservation and sustainable use of the Earth’s natural resources for the benefit of all, without exception.

As South Africa, we advocate for a holistic approach to addressing the intertwined crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. In the spirit of solidarity, we will continue to integrate these issues into all our multinational engagements. For instance, the themes of biodiversity economy and bioeconomy will be part of our agenda as we resume our G20 chairmanship in December 2024. Institutionalising these areas will also remain a priority for BRICS+.

Our strategies are inclusive; the government actively involves custodians of nature, including indigenous knowledge holders and traditional leaders, who are the stewards of the land. Their wisdom is crucial for harmonising our relationship with nature. Unfortunately, in many instances this same knowledge has often been commercially exploited in developing nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and cosmeceutical industries without fair and equitable benefits for the knowledge holders.

South Africa embraces the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and prioritises reimagining systems for conservation, restoration of life, and sustainable use of our environmental resources. In line with this strategic mandate, we have developed the biodiversity economy strategy and bio-economy strategies, which aim to rethink financial models and innovation that foster the active participation of all societal members particularly the poor, marginalised, youth, children, women, indigenous knowledge holders, and local communities as co-owners of production means.
It is imperative to ensure the meaningful involvement of indigenous peoples, including the African Diaspora, in managing investment funds, free from third-party organisations, to build trust and enable inclusive development.

Financial architecture
 

The existing financial architecture has been exploitative to mega-biodiverse countries and are to a larger extent contributory factors to biodiversity loss resulting in conflicts, under-development and poverty. In support for Peace with Nature, we call for a more predictable funding model linked to science, technology and innovation for conservation, enhancement of nature’s contribution to people, and sustainable use that facilitates enterprise development and conscious commercialisation of natural products and services. 

We therefore support the immediate establishment of a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund, which is inclusive, transparent, predictable, adequately capitalised and accessible. South Africa supports the operationalisation of multilateral mechanisms for fair and equitable beneficiation of digital sequence information on genetic resource.

In conclusion, we as the African region will continue working as bloc, through our financial instruments, such the African Development Bank.  This should be linked to Pan-African efforts like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as the primary market. A multi-polar approach to financing Peace with Nature should be part of the BRIC+ (BRICS+ Bank) and other favourable streams of funding. The business sectors should be encouraged to re-imagine win-win approaches as opposed to fear-lack-risk models that only perpetuate exploitation and condemn biodiversity to extinction, as we are witnessing today.

I thank you.

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E-mail: pmbelengwa@dffe.gov.za