Blog by Mxolisi Sibanda, Interim Head of Climate Change, Commonwealth Secretariat
Recently, I had the privilege to represent the Commonwealth during the recent Regional Dialogue on the Update and Revision of Regional and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans in Cape Town, South Africa.
This dialogue started as a conversation between our team at the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It was wonderful to see how those early conversations developed into the collaboration we now enjoy, which has now expanded to include the East African Community (EAC), the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Image
For the Commonwealth, the environment has always been of vital importance, as demonstrated by the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment in 1989, agreed to ahead of the Earth Summit in 1992 that led to the three Rio Conventions. As a family of 56 nations, we have five of the world’s megadiverse countries, including South Africa – where we met.
Across our member countries, you will find a rich tapestry of wildlife, both animals and plants, which are important for livelihoods, economic development, culture, recreation and human health. Yet we are losing it an unprecedented rate. The figures for these losses are startling. WWF’s 2024 Living Planet Report indicates a 76% decline in species that are monitored across Africa. Globally, annually, forests three times the size of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho are lost. Similarly, between 200 and 2,000 species go extinct every year.
Climate change-induced impacts like droughts, floods and insect invasions are increasing in scale and frequency, and also hitting harder. These are impacting our food systems and water security in Commonwealth countries, ever threatening to tear apart our way of life. In sub-Saharan Africa, our member countries have been at the forefront of this untold suffering whether through droughts in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, floods in Mozambique or insect invasions in Kenya.
Image
At our 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda, our leaders recognised the triple threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation - and agreed on the Commonwealth Living Lands Charter. The Charter aims to accelerate the implementation of integrated action towards sustainable land management, including biodiversity conservation. This builds on our Commonwealth Blue Charter, which focuses on ocean biodiversity and the blue economy, meaning our support and technical assistance to countries covers the full breadth of ecosystems from oceans to land.
Biodiversity is our ally in the fight against climate change and in our pursuit of economic and social development. It forms the basis for our communities’ capacity to adapt and mitigate; to be resilient.
Therefore, this dialogue - the work we grappled with in Cape Town - is both timely and very important. It enables our countries to share learnings and together chart the way forward to secure our lives as we know it and improve it for future generations.
We are doing this at a time which is marked by fractures in global geopolitics and exceedingly constrained financial resources, reminding us that we must work smarter, harder and more efficiently.
Image
The scale and consequence of biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation also require a united and coordinated response. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed by almost 200 countries, offers us a framework for that. However, since the deadline is set for 2030, we must take decisive and urgent action. All of us!
The Commonwealth Secretariat stands as a ready and enduring partner in this endeavour. We offer our resources, technical capacity and convening strength to this cause. Just like our small conversation between three partners has shown, we just need to start and commit to making the transformational change which is much needed.
Learn more about our climate change programmes
