The Canadian government has announced additional investments of $255 million to protect biodiversity in several countries, including Morocco, due to the degradation of forest areas whose repercussions have no borders.
The financial assistance announced by Canada will go mainly to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the funding system intended to carry out actions for the preservation of the environment on an international scale.
Three projects will benefit from Canadian assistance, namely the Biodiversity Finance Initiative of the United Nations Development Program (BIOFIN), the reforestation strategy “Forests of Morocco 2020-2030” and action initiatives for the climate in West Africa, says Radio Canada.
The new sums – in addition to the $350 million announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week – were unveiled at a press conference held as part of COP15 on the protection of the environment. biodiversity, in Montreal, in which the Canadian Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, Mélanie Joly and Steven Guilbeault, took part.
“We must unite the world around the ambitious goal of protecting 30% of the land and seas of the globe by 2030,” said Guilbeault.
“Science tells us this is the minimum for the survival and long-term sustainment of our planet,” he added.
“The loss of biodiversity, like climate change, knows no borders,” noted, for her part, the head of Canadian diplomacy, Mélanie Joly.
This new contribution places Canada in seventh position among the countries contributing to the GEF, underlined Guilbeault.
Over the past year, Canada has invested $1.5 billion in the GEF.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity estimates that US$700 billion per year is needed to reverse the decline in biodiversity.
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who joined the COP15 discussions on Friday, pointed out that wealthier countries had failed to deliver on funding promises to developing countries in the past and that this had created a “trust deficit” among them.
Earlier this week, dozens of countries, led by Brazil, India, Indonesia and Africa, called in unison for financial subsidies of at least $100 billion a year, or 1% of world GDP until 2030.
To accommodate these sums, the countries of the South are calling for the creation of a new global fund for biodiversity.
The national strategy for the development of the forest estate “Forests of Morocco 2020-2030” aims to influence the problem of degradation and to establish a balance between conservation and development of the forest and its resources.
This strategy aims to make up for 30 years of degradation of national forest areas, to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector and ensure its modernization, to reconcile Moroccans with the forest and to develop a forest heritage for all generations and social groups, according to a model sustainable, inclusive and wealth-generating management.
“Forests of Morocco 2020-2030” is based on five main orientations, namely the conversion of the forest estate into a development territory, the adoption of a participatory approach involving all stakeholders, the strengthening of the productive capacities of forests, the protection their biodiversity and improving their sustainability.