Biodiversity: ECOWAS expresses renewed commitment to 30 by 30

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may be facing political challenges with the recent pulling out of three countries:  Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

However, the regional bloc appears determined in its commitment to biodiversity conservation.

ECOWAS representatives met earlier this week in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for a Coordination Meeting on 30 by 30.

30 by 30 is a global initiative that aims to have governments designate 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean as protected areas by 2030. The initiative’s goal is to protect nature from climate change and other pressures that have led to a loss of biodiversity.

At the meeting, Dr Iziaq Salako, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, said: “While the ECOWAS region may have the lowest GDP in the world, it is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet and is massively represented within the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which all ECOWAS countries joined to advocate for a commitment to expand protected areas to at least 30% of the Planet by 2030. By launching The ECOWAS appeal for an ambitious global response to the biodiversity crisis, our region played a significant role in securing the adoption of this commitment in Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The minister explained that the meeting was to “plan the next steps and to turn our ambitions into concrete actions,” noting that “our region is already ahead and continues to lead with determination on planning for the regional contribution to 30 by 30.”

Salako, in his keynote address at the meeting noted that: “As I reflect on the importance of the successful implementation of 30 by 30, I see that the stakes are high for ECOWAS countries and for Africa being the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

“It is clear that there is inequity in the ways countries are impacted by the biodiversity and climate crises. For us In West Africa, a lack of solutions means that our communities will become poorer, our food security jeopardised, and our rural populations forced to relocate as its already happening in many of our countries. It is a fact that the population of climate migrants and environmental displaced people is rising in our subregion.”

“This is why your presence in this room is so vital, as you are entrusted with an important mandate to produce a regional 30 by 30 implementation plan which seeks to secure the effective protection of at least 30 percent of the ECOWAS region to preserve our life-giving ecosystems and to halt immediately the human-induced extinction of wild species.”