Press Conference: Colombia and Armenia launch government coalition to accelerate species recovery, UN Convention on Biodiversity - COP 17

Distinguished speakers, dear media representatives, we are starting the press conference with the representatives of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Colombia. I would like to pass the floor to the Deputy Minister of Environment of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Aram Meimarian.

Thank you very much, and thank you to all for being here, Your Excellency. David Olarte, Vice Minister of Environment of Colombia, Mr. Christian Semper, dear colleagues, distinguished representatives of media. Today we are presenting the Coalition for Action on Species Recovery Initiative, a coalition of governments working to accelerate the conservation and recovery of threatened species. Its purpose is to translate internationally agreed goals into practical action that reduces extinction risks and supports the recovery of species populations. Target 4 of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for urgent action to halt human-induced extinction and ensure the conservation and recovery of species. CARES is intended to help countries achieve practical results in this area. Species-focused cooperation is necessary because broad measures such as habitat conservation and restoration, action against invasive species, and the reduction of climate-related risks may not be sufficient for every threatened species. Each species faces distinct threats and recovery needs. Targeted action must therefore be based on scientific evidence and an assessment of each species status. This includes identifying priority species, understanding the barriers to their recovery, selecting effective measures, and establishing how progress will be assessed. CARES will enable countries to draw on one another's experience, access practical tools and species recovery approaches, and engage with an international expert network. Technical support may be provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission and its partners through the Reverse the Red Action Partnership, which also serves as the CARES Secretariat. For Armenia, this approach is essentially important. Species conservation requires close coordination among science, public administration, and action on the ground. Scientific assessments must be translated into clear programs and implementation into visible and measurable results. The success of this cooperation should ultimately be measured in nature. threats been reduced? Have species prospects for survival improved? Are their populations recovering? CARES brings together national experience, scientific knowledge, and partner support to accelerate species recovery. Our shared goal is to ensure that species threatened today have safer conditions to survive and recover in wild tomorrow. Thank you, and I'm ready to answer your questions.

Thank you, Mr. Maimaran. And for opening remarks, I would like to invite Mr. David Felipe Olarte Amaya, Vice Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Colombia, please.

Thank you. And Kira Milham from Rivers the Red. First of all, thank you very much, Deputy Minister, for your support and the support of your country. For us, for Colombia, is very important the launching of this coalition that we call CARES. We have already been in this new administration two months ago, and we have already have the support and work very close with our colleagues of the government of Armenia, Bezos Air Foundation, and the Red. And the important is that we can show results as soon as possible as the the cops have already mentioned about that. So from commitments to action, the target fourth of the coming Montreal Global Biodiversity Frameworks call from moving from commitments to concrete actions for the recovery of the 20 species. Cares, a partnership with Armenia, Colombia and Armenia are advancing in this coalition together, bringing countries around concrete species, recovery actions, scientific cooperation and the mobilization of resources of capacities. Colombia is already delivering some important results about this. We have already worked with two important species, the Orinoco crocodile, Crocodylus intermedius, and the blue-billed curassows, the Clarks alberti. Beyond releasing individuals, the goal is to restore viable populations that can survive, reproduce and sustain themselves in their natural ecosystems. Recovery is possible when science, institutions, international cooperation, and local communities work together. So conservation goes beyond single species. It requires restoring the ecosystem and ecological condition that allow them to thrive. We are very happy that already we have the support of about 17 countries in this coalition. And thank you again to the government of Armenia for all the support that we have already have in this amazing venue and the support that you have already do in order to launching this coalition in this important moment. And I think that the most important is that we can give results that we can work very close with the country, with the communities, and to give results in order to work from our species that are threatened. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Vice Minister, for opening remarks. I would like to pass the floor to Ms. Kira Malham from Reverse the Red.

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here on behalf of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Reverse the Red Action Partnership. We represent a partnership of civil society partners bringing technical expertise in support of this coalition and we're so excited to thank the leadership of Armenia and Colombia on initiating the CARES coalition. For too long, species conservation has focused on avoiding extinction. And this exciting leadership is really turning the tide for species and focusing instead on mobilizing action for recovery. Reverse the Red stands ready to act as secretariat, providing administrative and technical support to Armenia and Colombia under their leadership, but also to the other 17 countries and others that join this coalition. We bring together the IUCN Species Survival Commission expertise of 11,000 species experts around the world, as well as the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and their high standard zoos and aquariums around the world, and Botanic Garden Conservation International, as well as a collaboration of conservation NGOs. Together, we hope that we can support with keeping the initiative going administratively, but also providing technical methods, expertise and tools, and collaboration and connection where expertise is asked for and needed from the countries that are joining the coalition. So thank you so much. We look forward to supporting these exciting efforts.

Thank you. And dear colleagues, now we're ready to take questions. So please, your.

Good morning. I am Anna Vartanyan from Public TV. And my question can be taken by whoever believes it expedient to answer. I'm trying to understand how this coalition is going to operationalize, who is going to conduct oversight, how are the funding -- how finance is going to be allocated and distributed. Can you please give details about the technical aspects of its operation? Thank you.

So operationalizing from a technical perspective will be that coalition countries as they join, we'll be offering workshops and under the leadership of Armenia and Colombia, They'll be convening the delegations of the countries to offer support on target for reverse. The red can then work with the technical leads within biodiversity agencies to provide tools for identifying priority species within the country that needs species specific interventions. We have a series of roadmaps available that can walk country biodiversity agencies through these steps and meet them where they're at. We know many countries already have species conservation efforts underway, so we will meet with the countries talk about what their needs are and then offer support based on what gaps they have. But we really hope that this coalition under the kind of convened coalition together can act as a peer learning network where everyone is able to share their approaches to target for their lessons learned. And then we as reverse the red can step in and help provide technical expertise as and where it's needed. But from the funding perspective, I will hand over to Christian and he can speak a little bit more to the funding operationalizing.

Thank you, Kira and your vice ministers. Thank you all for being here. My name is Christian. I'm the managing director of the Bezos Earth Fund. And during the I want to first congratulate Armenia and Colombia on this wonderful new initiative. And during the Leaders Summit, I had the opportunity to announce a new coalition of donors, the Species Recovery Alliance, which includes nine different donors that are committed to species conservation, the recovery of these funding and the nine donors together. have pledged that we will invest $500 million between now and 2030 specifically for these kinds of projects. Let me be clear, this is not a new fund, it is not a pooled fund. Every donor manages their interest because different donors have different interests in different taxonomic groups. But once the countries have their plans and their activities and others, we can line them up with the appropriate donor to specifically see how we can provide some of the financial resources that are needed for this. Together, between the nine different partners, we're currently supporting work and recovery endangered species in more than 100 countries worldwide.

No more answers. Thank you very much. Any questions? Gentlemen in the fourth row, please.

Yes, hello. Hello, my name is Ali Bektawi, working for AFP news agency. I had a question for Mr. Vice Minister. The previous Colombian government was quite vocal in terms of climate biodiversity policies in global assemblies. Do you think that the new government is going to be as vocal when one of the main measure announced before the election was to extract more oil and increase fracking? And second question, would you say that Colombia is still calling to accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. And I think that you can see today that there is a participant from our government of Colombia that shows that we are really compromised with the international momentum that Colombia came in order to deliver the presidency is the main measure that we want to introduce. We continue with this participation in the international segment regarding the compromise that as a country we have already achieved and that we are going to continue with that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any questions?

Mr. May-Marian, My name is Araz Tavitian from iOpen.com from Cyprus. As leopards tend to cross borders, do you expect the neighboring countries also to join the coalition?

Thank you. The short answer would be that we would be happy because nature and biodiversity does not recognize the borders. And Armenia is that the cross borders crossroad of the migratory species and for the birds, for the mammals and the cooperation for nature is very essential in this moment. And I'm lucky to announce that a couple of days ago we have spotted a new leopard in Armenia, which probably came from one of our neighboring countries. So cooperation between our neighboring countries and joining the coalition would be more than more than important thank you.

Okay thank you very much uh please.

Good afternoon GAB press news agency the created fund focuses on threatened species and the recovery thereof. And we know that in Armenia they are documented in the Red Book, which is being reissued at the moment. Can you please describe the status of this process as of date? And the second question, how are you going to try to engage with the private sector?

Thank you very much for this question. Yes, the Red Book is in the course of revision and there are discussions on the way with our research institutions for us to understand how we can address the new republishing and the new edition of the Red Book and how we can address the previous Li identified species in the Red Book, how we can analyze the situation of the status thereof at the moment and then publish a new edition of the Red Book. So, discussions are underway. And the second question about the private sector, I'm very happy to already note that we have collaboration with the private sector and We have collaborations also with the public sector and the business sector. For example, we have the Sevan Trout Recovery Project that is underway, and private entities that operate on the shore of Lake Sevan will come to us requesting the financing of the release of a certain batch of Sevan trout into the lake. And these are just unique and individual siloed initiatives, So I am hopeful that in the future we will institutionalize this process better.

Dear colleagues, in interest of time, we are going to take one last question and all other questions can be mailed to our media team. So please, second row.

Hi, my name is Maria Monica Monsalve. I come from El Pais America. My question is to Vice Minister Olarte. I was wondering what What sources is this new government giving or collecting to fulfill the MBSAP that was presented for the last government? What achievements are you expecting? What sources do you have assigned for fulfilling this MBSAP, Colombia's MBSAP.

Thank you. We are continuing with the commitment. In fact, we are going to announce this week an important announcement in order of new resources to fulfill the the MBSAS, sorry, the MBSAB with the support of an important donor, but as I mentioned, it's something that we are going to announce and that our minister is going to sign this Wednesday in Bogota, and that we are going to announce here. And we continue, for example, to see, for example, if you review our ABC and the framework that we have already do and present, and that is making our national development plan, is very aligned with not only the MBSAP, the Common Montreal goals, but only to the climate change agenda, the desertification agenda, and the ocean agenda.

Thank you very much. Distinguished speakers, thanks for your remarks and for your answers. Dear colleagues, the press conference is over. If you still have remaining questions, please e-mail those to our media team. The contacts will be available in the media kit on COP17 website. Wishing you a great rest of the day. Thank you.