Representatives of Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC) and the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) met in Accra on the eve of the 2024 International Biodiversity Day to discuss ways of intensifying media coverage of general environment issues and that of biodiversity in Ghana.
The meeting was in response to the theme for the celebration: “Be part of the Plan.” The celebration was essentially, a call to action for all stakeholders to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Framework is a global agreement on a new set of goals to guide global action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. This agreement was reached at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in December, 2022 Montreal, Canada.
It outlines four overarching goals to be achieved by 2050, focusing on ecosystem and species health including to halt human-induced species extinction, the sustainable use of biodiversity, equitable sharing of benefits, and to close the biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion per year.
Additionally, it prioritizes 23 targets to be achieved by 2030. They include 30 % conservation of land and sea, 30 per cent restoration of degraded ecosystems, halving the introduction of invasive species, and $500 billion per year reduction in harmful subsidies.
On the 19th of December, 2023, during the one-year anniversary of the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity launched: “The Biodiversity Plan,” as a campaign aimed at communicating and promoting the four Goals and the 23 Targets of the Framework to the world.
Thus, the CBD Secretariat acknowledges the importance of communication especially – publication awareness and education as key factors for successful implementation of The Biodiversity Plan. “Communicating the Biodiversity Plan is crucial to enabling a whole-of-society approach that will take the world from agreement to action,” says the Acting Executive Secretary of the CBD Secretariat, David Cooper.
Therefore, the media is seen as a critical partner and stakeholder in this campaign as in all of the other UN Conventions. The SYND -MPEC meeting agreed that intensified media coverage of the country’s environment and biodiversity issues, will give the needed visibility to the increased efforts of civil society that are contributing towards halting degradation and restoring the integrity of the nation’s environment biodiversity.
The meeting also reviewed the launch in Accra They agreed that intensified media coverage of the country’s environment and biodiversity issues, will give the needed visibility to the increased efforts of civil society that are contributing towards halting degradation and restoring the integrity of the nation’s biodiversity.
The meeting also reviewed the launch last year of the maiden Biennial Media Forum on Natural Resources, Environment, Climate Change and Science dubbed “BiM-NECS Forum.” It was jointly organised by MPEC and the Afro-Sino Centre of International Relation (ASCIR) in collaboration with The STEMINIST Foundation Ghana and support from SYND.
The meeting agreed that the event, which took place on Monday 12th June, 2023 was a huge success in terms of attendance, active participation, and immediate impact.
The meeting further agreed on the need to develop modalities to implement the 2nd BiM-NECS scheduled for June 2025. Proposed activities for that Forum include a media dialogue on a topical issue, and recognizing and awarding media actors and their collaborators.
Story By: Ama Kudom-Agyemang
Source: mpecgh.org
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