MEDIA STATEMENT
G20 Rome Leaders’ Declaration Recognizes 30x30
31 October 2021—In a statement adopted today by the G20, the intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union, recognized the importance of protecting 30% of the planet by 2030.
The declaration states: “We recognize the efforts made by a number of countries to adhere to the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature and to ensure that at least 30 % of global land and at least 30 % of the global ocean and seas are conserved or protected by 2030, and we will help to make progress towards this objective in accordance with national circumstances.”
G20 members include Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and other biodiversity-rich countries that have yet to join a growing global effort to endorse the global goal to protect 30x30.
The 30x30 target is expected to be the centerpiece of a global biodiversity treaty to be signed in 2022. Currently, 75 countries are members of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group of countries pushing for the inclusion of 30x30 in the treaty, known as the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Brian O’Donnell, Director of Campaign for Nature, said:
“We welcome the recognition by the G20 of the critical global goal to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030. This is an important step, particularly by mega-diverse countries and sets the stage for the possibility of an ambitious global agreement on biodiversity.”
Enric Sala, Explorer in Residence at National Geographic Society said:
“The G20’s support today for the global goal to protect 30% of the planet by 2030 proves that the major economies are listening to the science that says we must move urgently and ambitiously to conserve our land and ocean in order to curb runaway biodiversity loss.”
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The Campaign for Nature works with scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and a growing coalition of over 100 conservation organizations around the world who are calling on policymakers to commit to clear and ambitious targets to be agreed upon at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in 2021 to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and working with Indigenous leaders to ensure full respect for Indigenous rights.
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