30x30 Leaders Event: Accelerating Global Action to Protect 30% of Land and Ocean by 2030

Do it as well. Now, aha, and I hear myself now. This is going about as well as the ticket distribution. That was a very good rehearsal. Thank you, everybody, for being at rehearsal. Excellencies, global nature champions, distinguished delegates, special guests. Before today, I thought that it really was a high ambition to protect 30% of our Earth, 30% of our oceans. And then I tried to get hold of one of these. And I realized, if we're in this room, we can do this in four years. Piece of cake. We are convening heads of state, heads of government who have seen success in protecting nature. We also want to hear about the realities of what it takes to make progress to 30 by 30, and a call to action for other leaders to follow in their journey. I looked up high ambition just to make sure that I understood exactly our challenge. High ambition, strong, lofty, demanding goals for success. It's going to take amazing collaboration. I want you to look around the room, see somebody that you do not know and greet them as Global Nature Champions. I will give you 30 seconds to do that, go ahead. Do you all know each other? That is astounding. This is excellent. I feel we're making progress in the last 30 seconds. Now we know each other, we can collaborate. Thank you, Nature Champions. Please be seated. I know I've unleashed the conversation. Now, can I bring it back? Thank you, everybody. I know it took you a little time to warm up, but I love that fact that we're greeting each other. We really are a powerful community once we know each other. This event is co-hosted by Armenia CBD COP President Guyana, Grenada, the Maldives, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, United Kingdom, together with the High Ambition Coalition for Nature, People and the Campaign for Nature. We will start with heads of state, heads of government, keynote remarks. We will continue with interventions from ministers, and then we will leave you with a call to action. 15, high ambition indeed. My name is Femi Oke. I am your emcee for the next one hour. It is my great pleasure to bring to the microphone and start us off His Excellency, Mr. Mbaadzo Mataboison, CBD COP17 President. Mr. President, the mic is yours.

Thank you very much. For most of you today, we are meeting the third time already. But I'm still very glad to meet you. Excellencies, distinguished heads of states, governments, colleagues, and partners, let me begin by thanking our co-hosts and partners for their leadership in bringing this important conversation forward. The fact that countries from different regions Together with the United Nations and partners of High Ambition Coalition, our joining forces here today sends a strong political message. 30x30 is a shared global responsibility, and its implementation requires collective leadership. For Armenia, it's a particular honor to co-host this discussion as the incoming presidency of CBD COP17. Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the KMGBF, is one of the clearest expressions of our common ambition to ensure that at least 30% of our terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine areas are effectively conserved and managed by 2030. But ambition alone will not deliver 30 by 30. We are now at the critical point in implementation of the framework. With only four years remaining to 2030, we need to move from commitments and plans to measurable action on the ground and in the ocean. And this is where our collective attention must now turn. The first global review of collective progress in implementing the KMGBF, which will take place at CBD COP17 in Yerevan, will provide a critical moment to take stock of where we stand across the framework, including the target three. For Armenia, the global review should not be read simply as an assessment. It should help us answer a more consequential question. What must we do differently? And what must we do faster to close the implementation gap by 2030? This is the spirit in which Armenia is preparing to assume the COP17 presidency. We see COP17 as a moment to connect political commitments with practical pathways for implementations, pathways that are nationally owned, scientifically credible, inclusive, and supported by adequate means of implementation. And Target 3 provides a particularly important opportunity to do this. 30x30 is not simply about drawing lines on a map. It's about conservation outcomes. It's about ecological representativeness and connectivity, effective management and governance, and ensuring that conservation delivers lasting benefits for biodiversity and people. It is also about the full and effective participation of the indigenous peoples, local communities, and about recognizing their rights, knowledge, and stewardship. And it is about working across sectors because many of the areas that can contribute to target three are landscapes and seascapes where people live, work, and produce. This is also why, under Armenia's COP17 presidency, we're advancing the Yerevan Global OECM Alliance as a flagship initiative. OECMs can play an important role in delivering Target 3 by complementing protected areas and recognizing effective conservation efforts across landscapes and seascapes. Our objective is straightforward, to strengthen international cooperation, connect countries with existing expertise and practical solutions, and accelerate credible implementations of OICMs. We do not need new layers of institutions. We need stronger cooperation, better access to knowledge and capacity, and greater consistency in implementation. This is how we can turn target three from global commitment into measurable conservation outcomes by 2030. Excellencies, the declaration before us today is important because it brings together the political leadership of High Ambition Coalition around a common message. We must accelerate implementation, ensure high quality conservation outcomes, strengthen inclusive governance. deepen national and local ownership, and mobilize resources required to deliver 30x30. The collective leadership demonstrated by the co-hosts today across regions and political context is precisely what we need to maintain momentum. and Armenia is committed to carrying this momentum forward to Yerevan. We invite all countries and partners gathered here today to come to CBD COP17 with concrete actions, partnerships, financing solutions, and time-bound measures that can accelerate implementation. Let us therefore use this moment at the United Nations General Assembly and the momentum created by the coalition of countries and partners to ensure that the next four years become a period of accelerated implementations. And from New York to Yerevan, let us take action for nature. Thank you very much.

Thank you, President Amata Voisin, for your opening keynote address. Excellencies on the dais, I'm going to ask you to speak from the dais. Thank you so much. We start with His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali. He is the President of Guyana and also our co-host.

Thank you very much. Excellencies, heads of state and government, distinguished colleagues, friends. It is a pleasure to join this important conversation on how we deliver 30 by 2030 online. The question before us is not whether we support 30 by 30. The question is how we turn this global ambition into action on the ground. Guyana believes we have an important experience to share. Our starting point is simple. Nature is not separate from development. Nature is an asset upon which sustainable development depends. More than 85% of Guyana remains forested. Our forests store carbon, support extraordinary biodiversity, regulate water, sustain livelihoods, and provide a foundation for the lives and cultures of our indigenous and forest communities. For us, conservation therefore cannot be treated as an isolated environmental policy. It must be integrated into national development, climate, and economic planning. This principle is at the heart of Guyana's Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030. Through the LCDS, we've established a national framework that seeks to maintain our forests while creating economic opportunities from keeping those forests standing. We have developed a national forest monitoring, reporting, and verification system and mechanisms to mobilize international climate finance based on verified results. Our experience demonstrates that countries should not have to choose between protecting nature and pursuing development. With the right architecture, conservation can become an investment in development. Second, we are putting people at the center of conservation. The people who have lived with and protected our forests for generations must not simply be beneficiaries of conservation. They must be partners and decision makers. Through the LCDS, Guyana is directing 20% of forest carbon revenues to indigenous and forest communities, supporting priorities identified by communities themselves through village sustainability plans. This is important because 20 by 30 will only succeed if conservation is developed in a people-centered way. Third, We are advancing conservation at landscape scale. We are not approaching biodiversity conservation simply as a collection of individual protected areas. We are increasingly thinking in terms of landscapes, connectivity, ecological integrity, and sustainable land management. I am pleased to share that Guyana is advancing plans to designate approximately 1.5 million hectares or 3.7 million acres of pristine, biodiversity-rich, and largely intact forests within the state of forests in the Rupununi corridor as a permanent conservation area. As this process moves forward, this area will likely be one of the largest single blocks of permanent conservation designated globally by a high forest cover, low deforestation country. It would also make a significant contribution to Guyana's 30 by 30 ambition and could effectively double the country's area under permanent conservation. Fourth, we're connecting biodiversity conservation to climate finance. Guyana's experience demonstrates that forests can generate measurable climate value. But we believe the next step is to broaden the conservation. Biodiversity must always be recognized as an economic asset. Countries that maintain globally important ecosystems are providing a service to the entire world. The international community, therefore, needs financing system that reward countries and communities for maintaining biodiversity before ecosystems are degraded, not only altered. Guyana has led the establishment of the Global Biodiversity Alliance, the GBA, to bring countries and institutions together around practical biodiversity action. The GBA reflects our belief that no country can solve the biodiversity crisis alone. We need governments, indigenous peoples, local communities, development banks, financial institutions, universities, environmental organizations, and the private sector working together. The objective must be implementation, mobilizing finance, knowledge, technology, and partnerships at scale. The global community has made unprecedented commitments through the Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, but we know that implementation must accelerate if we are to achieve 30 by 30. Guyana's experience offers one pathway. Measure what you have, value what you protect, put people at the center, mobilize finance, plan a landscape scale, and build partnerships that deliver action. Guyana does not claim to have all the answers, but we demonstrate that a developing country can protect its forests, conserve globally significant biodiversity, support indigenous and local communities, and pursue economic development at the same time. This is the opportunity that 30 by 30 presents. Let us make 30 by 30 not simply a global target, but a global program of action. I thank you and I invite all of you to the second Biodiversity Alliance Summit in Guyana in October, the end of October. I was just checking my minister to see if he is intact.

Minister, I feel you've got a raise right there. Congratulations. We are listening to our heads of state and heads of government for implementation, for progress, for commitment. We go next to His Excellency, Colonel Michael Randrianirina. He is the President of Madagascar. Mr. President, we're looking forward to hearing from you.

Excellency, heads of state and government, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, at a time when the international community is striving to accelerate the implementation of the sustainable development goals and strengthen the resilience of our societies, Madagascar is convinced that biodiversity is not merely one priority among many, it is one of the foundations of our development. Our national biodiversity strategy and action plan 2026 to 2023, 2030 provides the overarching framework for this ambition. In this context, the Madagascar 30 30 biodiversity program reflects our determination to turn commitments into tangible results. By 2030, we aim to secure a sustainable future for nearly 18 million hectares of priority terrestrial ecosystem and up to 40 million hectares of priority marine ecosystems. This ambition is already taking shape. This year, Madagascar established 21 new protected areas covering 1.8 million hectares. Beyond the number of hectares protected, our objective is to ensure effective conservation, strengthen ecosystem resilience, and deliver lasting benefits to local communities. For Madagascar, biodiversity conservation and human development are inseparable. It is in this spirit that we seek to make biodiversity a driver of resilience, sustainable development, and prosperity for present and future generations. Distinguished guests, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, today, Madagascar reaffirms its commitment to continue its efforts towards achieving the 30 targets. However, this ambition can only be fully realized through collective action and the support of our partners. Just yesterday, here in New York, Madagascar received $10 million commitment from Rainforest Trust. In support of the government's efforts to deliver this ambition. Together, we share the responsibility of passing on to future generation, a living planet, rich in biodiversity, where nature is protected, communities free, and every generation can live in harmony with this environment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Our final intervention from a head of state, a head of government, is from his Excellency Mr. Fatafehi Fa'afafinaua, who is Prime Minister of Tonga. Prime Minister, it is good to see you. Welcome. Thank you.

Excellencies, distinguished leaders, colleagues, partners, malo e lelei from the Kingdom of Tonga. I will warn you, though, I have eight pages here, so please bear with me. I'd like to begin by thanking the governments of Armenia, Guyana, Grenada, and the Maldives, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the United Kingdom, as well as the CBD COP17 President for the Campaign for Nature and the High Ambition Coalition for nature and the people for convening this important event. Tonga strongly supports implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the global goal of conserving at least 30% of land and ocean by 2030. For Tonga, 3030 is not simply a conservation target. It is about safeguarding the natural systems that sustain our sovereignty, our resilience, our culture, our economy, and our future prosperity. Nature conservation is not separate from environmental agenda. It is where sovereignty and sustainability and resilience and prosperity converge. Tonga comprises of approximately 700 square kilometers of land dispersed across approximately 700,000 square kilometers. So in practical terms, Tonga is 99.9% ocean and 0.1% land. For a nation that is 99.9% ocean, our contribution to the global 3030 goal is naturally one that is ocean centered. Through Tonga's marine spatial plan, 30.4% of our ocean space is fully protected and meet the ambitions of the 3030. However, since coming into office nine months ago, I have the ambition of increasing the 30 to 50% in Tonga. But success is not measured simply by percentages alone or by lines drawn arbitrarily on a map. It is measured by the health, the resilience, and the connectivity of the ecosystems we intend to protect. and by the lasting benefits they provide to our people. That's where integrated ocean governance and management is key. Tonga's approach is grounded in biodiversity, climate, ocean, and sustainable development nexus. They are interconnected parts of a single system, and we must implement them accordingly. We know what the effects of the watershed are and its effects on reefs. What affects the reefs affects the coastline. What affects the coast affects our communities. What affects our ocean affects the high seas. And what affects the high seas ultimately returns to all of our oceans. Nature's interconnected. Ocean currents, migratory species, deep ocean ecosystems, such as the Tonga Trench, which is the second deepest trench on Earth, and the ecological processes that connect our land to our ocean and the high seas. Conservation, therefore, cannot stop at the shoreline, and nor can it stop at the limits of national jurisdiction. Our governance systems must reflect the ecological reality, from the highlands to the high seas, from the ridge to the reef. Tonga has established the legislative foundation for integrated ocean governance through the Ocean Management Act that was granted royal assent last December. Tonga is advancing a national ocean policy, a national marine spatial plan, and a Tonga ocean strategy. Implementation of our national biodiversity strategy and our action plan is underway. These are not separate projects. Together, they form an integrated national framework linking biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, ocean governance, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development. Their effectiveness depends on all of us working together around the shared outcomes. Tonga is also advancing ecosystem service valuation across territorial, freshwater, coastal, and marine deep ocean ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems are not simply environmental assets. Healthy ecosystems are essential natural national infrastructure and a foundation of our national capital. Ecosystem service valuations will make the nexus visible in economic and sustainable development decision making. Tonga will explore the use of modelling scenario planning, and trade-off analysis to support more informed decision-making. These tools will help us compare alternative pathways, identify long-term costs and benefits, understand cumulative impacts across interconnected ecosystems, assess synergies and trade-offs, and prioritize the public and private investments. For SIDS, Small Island Developing States, With financial, technical, and institutional resources are often constrained because of our smallness, understanding these trade-offs is essential for our development. It enables us to prioritize investments that deliver the greatest combined benefits across biodiversity, climate resilience, and the nexus of ocean stewardship, sustainable livelihoods, and long-term prosperity. It allows us to direct scarce resources where they can generate the greatest return and return for investment for our people. Investment in nature is therefore investment in development, security and the future habitability of our islands. The greatest challenge that we face is not a lack of ambition, it is fragmentation. Our ecosystems are connected, but our governance systems are often not. Climate change is addressed through one convention, or COP, biodiversity through another, and land degradation through another. For small and developing states, international fragmentation often becomes national fragmentation. Multiple targets, multiple reporting requirements, multiple financing windows, and implementation arrangements place considerable demands on our small administrations, not to mention the many, many, many COPs that we have to attend with our limited resources and time. Tonga therefore calls for greater coherence, greater cooperation and coordination and collaboration across international frameworks, institutions and processes under the UN. The objective is not to merge distinct legal regimes. It is to ensure that existing systems work more effectively together. Within the broader objective of sustainable development, Tonga supports stronger synergies among the three Rio conventions, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification. Biodiversity action should reinforce climate resilience. Climate investment should reinforce and strengthen ecosystems. Land restoration should support healthier soils, watersheds, reefs and oceans. Action under one convention should enforce implementation under the other. But the need for coherence extends beyond the Rio conventions. It extends to the wider international frameworks, institutions and processes governing what I mentioned earlier. Oceans, fisheries, shipping, disaster risk reduction, trade, finance, innovation, intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge. These frameworks have distinct mandates and those mandates must be respected. Yet they increasingly confront the same interconnected challenges and affect the same ecosystems, the same communities, and the same vulnerable economies. Through greater coherence and partnerships, we can make those connections towards a shared outcome that accelerates progress across multiple goals. Tonga is advancing implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, or the GBF, through many of our national plans and implementation bodies. Ratification of the BBNJ Agreement demonstrates Tonga's commitment to linking action with national jurisdiction cooperation beyond our national jurisdiction. We support coherence and mutual reinforcement between global biodiversity frameworks, UNCLOS and its implementing agreements, including the BBNJ Agreement, UN Fish Stock Agreement and the Part IX Agreement. I think it's 11. XI is 11. I'm sorry. Achieving GBF target 3 or 30 by 30 requires recognition that biodiversity, fisheries, deep sea habitats, and seabird in the high seas are part of one interconnected ocean system. What happens beyond national jurisdictions does not remain beyond the national jurisdiction. its impacts can return to our waters and our economies. Tonga also supports closer alignment with the International Maritime Organization, the IMO, recognising the importance of responsible shipping and marine pollution prevention for ocean health. Trade policies and rules under the WTO should support, rather than undermine, sustainable resource use, resilient livelihoods and the biodiversity outcomes. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is equally relevant because healthy watersheds and coastal systems and reefs reduce exposure, and strengthen resilience for islands. International processes concerning intellectual property, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and benefit sharings, including through the World Intellectual Property Organization, must protect custodianship, uphold national sovereignty, and promote equality and equitable outcomes. Innovation and scientific advancement should support rather than diminish the rights and interests of custodians of knowledge and biodiversity in our traditional islands. International financing should make integrated implementation easier for small island developing states and support the outcomes across biodiversity, climate, resilience, and the nexus for development. Tonga welcomes initiatives such as the Burn Process that strengthens dialogue, coordination and collaboration across biodiversity related conventions. It demonstrates how institutions can strengthen cooperation while respecting their distinct mandates. Almost there. Looking ahead, climate and nature are one crisis. COP 31, CBD COP 17 must deliver together. Small island developing states are often described primarily in terms of vulnerability. Tonga chooses to also strengthen focus on our strengths. Our smallness can be a strategic advantage. Our scale allows us to see connections that are larger, that larger systems may overlook. and we may be able to test and integrate approaches that more bigger economies might find challenging. It enables us to move from policy to implementation swiftly, from innovation to demonstration, and from national solutions to regional and global applications. We therefore see ourselves as not only an implementer of global commitments, but also as a platform for developing, testing, and scaling holistic solutions, potentially global solutions, in the future. Through the forthcoming Polynesian Ocean Summit, hosted by Tonga in May 2027, the sub-regional Blue Corridor Initiative, the Hope Spots, the whale sanctuaries, and our national 30x30 commitment, Tonga seeks to connect community action national implementation, and international cooperation. We wish to make firm commitments today and work back from tomorrow. The ecosystems we seek to conserve are already interconnected. Our governance, financing, and implementation systems must reflect that reality and follow suit. Our great challenge is fragmentation, our great opportunity is integration. Through greater coherence and partnerships, we can connect. As we look towards CBD COP17 in Armenia, continued international cooperation in Turkey, COP31, and beyond, let us strengthen the interconnections and the interlinkages. Let's accelerate implementation of 30x30, strengthen our partnerships, and demonstrate that protecting nature is an investment in people, in resilience, and in sustainable development. It's moved together to genuinely integrate those solutions and for better outcomes for nature and for all our people. Thank you.

Thank you, Prime Minister. I look forward to your book. I feel that is the first chapter, and it's going to be a page turner. And you should also do the narration because you have a beautiful voice. Excellencies, before I get kicked out of our conference room, thank you so much. Please take your seats at the front. of our conference room and we're going to bring our ministers on. So I'm going to ask you and your support team to please be seated. We thank you. So today is a very special day because we have reached 100 BBNJ ratifications. Germany, 98. Thank you, Germany. Australia, 99. And Canada, 100. All in the last 24 hours. Does that mean that we have to have a conference every day just to keep those ratifications coming? So the 30 by 30 pledges at the center, the coming Montreal biodiversity framework, who was in Montreal in 2022? Do you remember that we got COVID packs as a gift pack, right? There was no, there was a bag and it had covid tests in it. And it was really scary, not for the COVID bit, but we'd come all the way to Montreal to take part in this biodiversity conference. And we weren't sure until we tested that they would let us in every day. So it depends who you kept company with as to if you could come back the next day. And I was trying to stay away from people because I was moderating. I was like, if I don't. get COVID, I'll be fine. If I get COVID, am I going to be able to moderate from the hotel room? So all of these things were going through our minds, but at the same time, we were coming up with transformative pledges to change our future and how we treat nature. I'm going to call to the dais Minister Sierra Leone, the Minister from the Philippines, the Minister for Germany, the Foreign Affairs Minister for the Maldives, the Secretary of State for the UK, Ambassador for Environment for France. And now we have all of your name tags, so take a look at your name tags and please be seated. Thank you. It helps to sit if you have a little bit of light applause. Thank you, Ministers. As you're finding your place, I am going to let you know that we have three minutes assigned to each of you. When I stand up, that has two minutes and 30 seconds has gone by. When I walk to the microphone, that's your three minutes is up. And when I say thank you so much, the time has run out. I know that you can handle the pressure of three minutes, and I'm excited to hear what you are doing in your countries that will help us and inspire us to do 30 by 30 in the next four years. Honorable Mr. Jiwu Emmanuel Abdulai, Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Sierra Leone, also co-host. Your three minutes starts now. Welcome. I'm going to ask you to do it from your seat, otherwise that takes off some time from your three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Sierra Leone was number 60 for the BBNJ. Firstly, I'd like to thank the High Ambition Coalition, the Campaign for Nature, CBD COP17 and partners for organizing this event. The heads of state and government have covered most of what I would have liked to say in the prepared speech, so I'll just tell you a little bit about what we've done. For 30x30, it's easy to declare, it's much more difficult to implement. So we started by going around the country, calling women's leaders, youth leaders, paramount chiefs to engage them in how we can protect our natural assets. It was quite informative. For many of these people, nature is vital infrastructure that is needed for their existence. And they understand that there is an imbalance between the communities and nature. And it's because many times they have to make choices. A choice between sending your kids to college versus protecting a forest. The choice between taking care of medical bills versus protecting nature. And the reality is, I mean, for centuries we've had been living in harmony with nature and many of these people want to restore that harmony. And what we found is it's much easier when they are in the driver's seat to come up with plans community by community that will then be aggregated to the national level. And we've made progress. As we speak, we're building a system to tackle climate issues and biodiversity issues for these rural communities. Because what we found is there is a negative feedback loop. Climate issues have resulted in declining yields. And because of the declining yields, they need to clear more land for farming. and engage in other activities that lead to deforestation. So we have come up with a plan. We've engaged what we're calling pilot communities. And for these pilot communities, we're going in there and helping them transition away from agricultural practices that are harmful to nature and also engaging these same communities to restore what we've lost. So they take ownership of the restoration efforts and they, because they are the stewards at the end of the day and they're the best place to do so. Our constraint is primarily resourcing. So we have to pick and choose. It's like picking your children, which one you're going to feed. We've chosen the pilot communities, about 10% of them, And there's excitement. The challenge for me is informing the rest of the communities that they'll have to wait while we're working with these pilot communities. But they're excited because these assets are assets that they have inherited from ancestors, and these are assets that they want to pass on to their children. But they're also excited that they will be contributing to global climate mitigation. As much as we like to say we're not big emitters and we're not big part of the problem, we want to be part of the solution.

Minister Abdoulaye, I want to end on the excitement. That's always a good place to end.

All right.

Thank you. His Excellency, Owan Miguel Tikuna is acting secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines. Thank you.

Thank you very much to all our hosts for the invitation. Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, the Philippines strongly reaffirms its commitment to the 30 by 30 target under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. As an archipelagic and megadiverse country, we recognize that protecting nature is not only a biodiversity imperative, it is a fundamental to our climate resilience, food and water security, livelihoods, and the well-being of our people. However, achieving this is not without profound challenges. We are actively navigating the compounding impacts of climate change alongside the growing demand for food security, expanding human settlements, and the necessary transition to renewable energy, all of which place immense pressure on our terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Despite these hurdles, we are translating our commitment into a nationally grounded pathway through our Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which targets the protection of 24% of terrestrial and inland water areas and 16% of coastal and marine areas by 2040. To date, the Philippines has 121 legislated protected areas covering more than 4.5 million hectares. complemented by proclaimed and initial protected areas. But for us, 30 by 30 is not simply about increasing the number of hectares on paper. It is about ensuring that conserved areas are effectively managed, ecologically representative and inclusive. This is being done through the strengthening and effective management of our protected and conserved areas while pursuing complementary conservation approaches across terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. We will continue to expand and strengthen our protected and conserved areas, recognize key biodiversity areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and improve the effectiveness, connectivity and equitable governance of these areas. The Philippine stakeholders, together with the government, formulated the Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which is an independent community-led framework. It provides a platform for Indigenous peoples to promote their rights, priorities, and knowledge in biodiversity conservation. Its implementation is being advanced through national dialogue and roundtables to help address participation challenges and strengthen community ownership. Ambition must be matched by means of implementation. Yet securing adequate biodiversity financing remains a critical hurdle. The Philippines is strengthening natural capital accounting to make sure the value of ecosystems is more visible in economic and government decision making, helping inform where public and private investments are directed and how biodiversity is conserved and restored. This is complemented by financing approaches such as payment for ecosystem services as we work to narrow our biodiversity financing gap. As we move toward CBD COP17, we call for stronger international cooperation, technology and capacity support and greater access to biodiversity finance for developing countries.

Secretary Kuna, can I ask you for one more important sentence that you want to share with us?

We look forward to advancing implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including target 3, by ensuring that biodiversity-rich areas are effectively managed and conserved, ecologically representative, and equitably governed. Thank you.

Thank you. His Excellency Mr. Carsten Schneider, Federal Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Even though he has a huge portfolio, he still has three minutes.

Yeah. Yeah, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I'm a proud number 98, proud for Germany to that we officially became a party of the BBNJ agreement yesterday. I deposited the ratification instrument at the United Nations. This agreement is a huge success for marine conservation and protection. It follows years of international negotiation. In the first BBNJ COP will take place in January, where we all will discuss how to translate the agreement into action. One issue will be protected areas. Germany is already cooperating with five partner countries from all over the world to identify and establish protected areas on the high seas. This is concrete progress. But so far, we, the international community, are not standing by our goals. At the UN Conference on Biodiversity in 2022, you mentioned it, we agreed to place 30% of terrestrial and marine areas under protection by 2030. The first global report on joint implementation paints a very clear picture. We are still a long way from achieving the global goals by 2030. We have to significantly step up our efforts if we want to halt the loss of species and their habitats. Germany will remain a committed partner. The German government and its partners will contribute to securing valuable protected areas for the long term. This will enable us to safeguard important habitats to benefit biodiversity and people. Intact nature acts as a buffer, a buffer against the impacts of the climate crisis. To safeguard this protected areas for the long term, underline the long term, Germany will contribute 100 million US dollar to the Legacy Landscape Fund. And now it's coming to best. We will be joined in this effort by a 100 million US dollar pledge from the Wyss Foundation and a 100 million US dollar pledge from Rob Walton Foundation. Duke Cobman is here. So it's 300 million euros. This is enough to protect and preserve 10 keystone protected areas in Africa for 50 years. I have the honor that the African Union Commissioner, Mr. Vihla Kathe, is in the room. He launched the Keystone Partnership alongside five African heads of state. Thank you very much for this initiative. And we encourage other governments, philanthropic organizations, companies, and private partners to partner with us in these efforts. Ladies and gentlemen, We have a month to go to CBD COP 17 in Armenia. Let us take today's positive spirit with us to Yerevan. I look forward to our cooperation. Thank you.

How do you follow $300 million? I have an idea. Her Excellency, Miss Eruytisham Adam, is the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Maldives. Just ahead of you was $300 million. That was an impressive use of three minutes. Foreign Affairs Minister, what do you have for us?

Thank you, Ms. Oket. Excellencies, dear colleagues. As a co-host, the Maldives wants this conversation to be about delivery. Maldives was the eighth country to ratify the BB&G agreement in 2024. 30x30 will not be achieved by drawing lines on a map. It will be achieved when those areas are effectively managed, properly financed, ecologically representative, and supported by the people who depend on them. That is the approach we are taking in the Maldives. Our national 30x30 roadmap is now being finalized and integrated into our national biodiversity strategy and action plan. We are also building public ownership, a national campaign is in the soft launch phase, engaging communities, local councils, resource users, civil society, academia, and other stakeholders. We are opening the process further. A national nomination platform is being developed so individuals and organizations can propose areas for protection and conservation based on ecological significance. Ecological and socioeconomic surveys are also underway to identify new potential areas. and we are broadening the tools we use the sona oecm is now the mold is first recognized oecm it covers 0.41 square kilometers across three distinct ecological sites it provides an important Sanctuary for threatened Marine avian and plant species demonstrating how conservation can also be Advanced Beyond traditional protected areas but designation is only the beginning for protected area management effectiveness assessments have been reported with more than 10 others underway. Our new national PCA framework and management plan guidance are helping establish common standards for governance, monitoring, financing, compliance, and enforcement. From our experience, three things now matter. First, we must measure success by conservation outcomes, not only by percentages. A protected area that exists only on paper will not deliver 30 by 30. Second, finance must implementation. Developing countries need adequate, accessible and timely support for management, monitoring and enforcement. Third, local communities must be partners from the start. Their knowledge, livelihoods and priorities must shape how areas are selected and managed. COP17 in Yemen should therefore be a moment of acceleration. Countries should arrive with implementation roadmaps, credible management systems and clear financing needs. Maldives will continue to do its part. Let us make 30x30 a global standard for effective, inclusive, and lasting conservation. I thank you.

To our four ministers who've spoken in the last 20 minutes or so, I feel that there's momentum. I'm hearing momentum. But what does it feel like to sit next to a fellow minister also talking about implementation and what they are doing for 30x30? Minister Abdoulaye, thoughts from sitting here? Yes.

I think the momentum is there. I think what is important is that we have honest conversations about progress, that we share stories, success stories, we share, you know, technical expertise. And I think big problems like this you can get results when it's collaborative and we see it as a global problem that we all are working.

To solve. Thank you. Secretary Kuna.

I think gatherings like this really help the other countries, particularly developing countries, in hearing the experiences of the other countries. Of course, we have exerted our own efforts to achieve our targets, But we also need assistance in terms of capacity building and maybe technology transfer. Thank you.

Minister Karsten.

Yeah, it's great to be here and to hear the efforts and your beautiful countries to protect the nature for all of us. And it's great.

And then Minister Adam.

It's great to be here and also hear about the financing, the vulnerabilities, the experiences, and also lobby and continue on this issue of importance because we don't want to lose the radar. We want to be heard, the voices to be expressed, and also the implementation to take place. Thank you.

Thank you. We're talking about biodiversity, but I'm also appreciating the diversity of the ministers and the speakers in our event. We move on. with our program to bring in Dame Angela Eagle, DBE, Secretary of State for the Environment in the United Kingdom. Good afternoon, good to see you. You are highly honored, Dame Eagle, but you still have three minutes.

Oh, well. It's a great pleasure to wind up, and my thanks to the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, the Campaign for Nature, and fellow co-host governments for bringing us together here at UNGA to build momentum. And I think, as we've heard, there is indeed momentum. There's a lot going on, but we also know we've got a lot further to go, as our Armenian colleague has been telling us in the various events that we've had across UNGA in the last few days. So, Achieving 30 by 30 isn't only an environmental target; it's healthy ecosystems, which underpin food security, water security, economic resilience and long-term prosperity for all of our communities. And so, the message for the next four years is clear: we have to have more action if we're going to make this target. In the UK, we're playing our part. For example, in England, marine protected areas now cover 40% of our waters, but designation alone is not enough. We have to make protection count, ensuring that protected and conserved areas are effectively managed for biodiversity. In England, we are strengthening protections for marine habitats and species by tackling damaging activity, including damaging fishing activity. That same principle also applies beyond national waters. The UK is proud to have ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement in July 2026, which serves as a vital tool for protecting two thirds of our ocean habitats and supporting wider delivery of the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework. We are committed to partnering with others, in particular in the South to implement the BBNJ agreement. Finance remains a key barrier to implementation, and we must mobilise investment for nature from all sources. In June, the UK announced a 13.9 million investment through the Blue Planet Fund to support three international programmes. This funding will deliver measurable results for people and nature, tackling plastic pollution, restoring coastal ecosystems, protecting seagrass meadows and coral reefs, and unlocking long-term finance to help halt and reverse the decline of ocean biodiversity. As we have heard, 30x30 is not an end point; it is a means of delivering real change. We have heard the stirrings and beginnings of real change, but now we have to redouble our efforts, because we have not long left to go until 2030. By protecting and conserving nature effectively, we can help to reverse biodiversity loss, strengthen resilience and create a more sustainable future for generations to come. Nature is pretty good at recovering if we let it, and we have to create the space with our activities to do that. As the ocean champion and leader of the global ocean alliance, The UK looks forward to continuing to work with high ambition coalition members and partners, the Armenian COP17 presidency and the wider international community to turn commitments that have been made into action to achieve our shared vision of protecting 30% of the world's land and ocean by 2030. Madam Moderator, I have chaired Labour Party conference and kept people to shorter time limits than three minutes, and so I hand back to you hopefully in time.

You're five seconds over but I will accept it. Thank you so much Dame Igor. Our final speaker, her Excellency Barbara Pompili is the Ambassador for Environment in France. It is good to see you. Thank you for your patience and we expect your remarks to be brilliant.

Thank you, thank you very much, and very, very glad to be with you today. And no, it was not patience, it was not about patience, because what I heard here was very thoughtful and engaging contributions, which reflects shared recognition, and it is important, of the urgency of our mission to accelerate action towards the 30 by 30 implementation. The 30x30 target is not just a goal, it is a necessity for our shared future. Because biodiversity is not what surrounds us, it is us. It defines every life and activity. And I think a lot of people in this room are convinced. I'm not sure it's the case outside. So we have to do this work for people to understand that environment is not an environment. It is us. You can surely count on France to be part of the collective effort to catalyze increased ambition for biodiversity conservation. As co-chair of the HACC with Nigeria, France is strongly committed to foster 30x30 with a special focus on marine areas. We hosted last year in Nice the third United Nations Ocean Conference, co-organized with Costa Rica. This political momentum led to the entry into force on 17th of January of the BBNG agreement, now ratified by 100 parties. And we are confident that the implementation of the BBNG agreement would serve as a powerful catalyst for 30 by 30 implementation. But ambition cannot be measured by numbers alone. Quality is, of course, just as vital as quantity. This is why, under France's G7 presidency this year, we have championed a new initiative to strengthen the effective management of marine protected areas. These efforts have led to the creation of an alliance to improve the management of marine protected areas, fostering the exchange of best practices and innovative approaches among G7 members, as well, of course, as countries and organizations. I expect this qualitative dimension of conservation to be at the heart of COP17 of CBD And I saw the executive secretary of the CBD. She's with us today. Under the Armenian leadership, France is determined to contribute to a successful COP by ensuring that an ambitious decision is adopted on the global assessment, by promoting an agreement on broadening the donor's base, promoting the integration of governance and public policies while defending science at this critical moment. For all these reasons, I very much welcome the HACC 30 by 30 declaration. This declaration should not be seen as a new negotiated text, but rather as a common ground on which to reaffirm and strengthen our joint commitment to the 30 by 30. Let's share our experiences on the ground. It's the best way to succeed. So let's build on this political milestone, maintain the momentum and raise our collective ambition for 30 by Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Today, the Campaign for Nature and Together for the Ocean released the most comprehensive analysis of 30x30 progress that we've had to date. A little summary, over half of the world's countries have made 30x30 pledges. made the pledges, not necessarily implemented them, but there is a critical gap with how much we are protecting the oceans. I'm going to ask you, as my call to action, to look at 30x30assessment.com. You can see how far we've come and how far we need to go. I want to thank all of the speakers who were on the dais. I want to thank them for their brevity and their brilliance. And I want to thank you for being here as Global Nature Champions. There are so many places you can be in this building, in this week, and in New York, and you chose here for an hour. We appreciate you. Thank you. And my final task is to ask all of the speakers who were on the dais to come to the front for a photograph so that we can record this as an historic moment for today. So, Excellencies, please come and join us. Ministers, please stay there, and we will take the photograph. Okay, ministers, if you just come in front of the dais, thank you for the photograph. Just down here, yes, thank you. Now I want to go back and look at old video of you moderating at the conference.