Samoa has highlighted some of the steps it has taken to conserve biodiversity in the country at the 15th COP to the Convention on Biological Diversity In Montreal, Canada.

Addressing the high level Segment of the 15^th Conference of the Parties [COP] to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Samoa’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster reaffirmed Samoa’s commitments to the endorsement and implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which is currently being negotiated.

Toeolesulusulu called for support from the global community to reduce and reverse biodiversity loss in Samoa, according to media release issued by the SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) last Friday.

“We call for bold commitments from the global community to strengthen cooperation and elevate our actions to significantly reduce and reverse biodiversity loss," said Toeolesulusulu.  

"Without a doubt, we will continue to face new challenges as events around the world present new threats to environmental wellbeing, biological diversity and human livelihood.

“Samoa as a member of our Pacific family is evermore convinced that it is only through joint work with other regions under the guidance of the Convention, can we achieve our common goal in shaping the future of biodiversity, people and planet.”

The Minister said the Samoan Government has committed to protect 30 per cent of its waters in ecologically representative and well-connected systems of marine protected areas – through the implementation of the Samoa Ocean Strategy (SOS) and Marine Spatial Planning. 

Launched in 2020, the SOS is Samoa’s plan to better manage nature to ensure the health of the sea and its people. Working with key partners, it identifies priority areas that require immediate focus and long-term investment.

Samoa also announced its commitment to protect of over 30 per cent of its terrestrial biodiversity which includes the establishment of international bird areas, key biodiversity areas, watershed catchment areas, terrestrial nature and recreational reserves, national parks and community-based conservation areas.

“This folds in well with our commitment in joining over 116 other countries as part of the 30 by 30 the High Ambition Coalition and Global Ocean Alliance, which aims to protect at least 30 per cent of the global ocean as Marine Protected Areas and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) by 2030."

But that’s not all. Samoa is also implementing its 3 million tree planting national campaign, a community based and led initiative with Government backing, to support the ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems and as a nature-based solution to climate resilience.

At COP15 last Thursday Samoa with Seychelles and Cabo Verde, were co-leading the SIDS Coalition for Nature launched with a call for action to elevate and bring prominence to the special circumstances and structural development challenges faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The Coalition exists to advocate for agreed common SIDS priorities and needs such as greater means of implementing biodiversity objectives in negotiation spaces by putting up a unified front. It also recognises that SIDS host 19 per cent of the world’s coral reefs and their geographic isolation safeguards an array of endemic plants and animals found nowhere else on earth.

“Samoa reaffirms its commitment under the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing to facilitate and regulate access to Genetic Resources and associated Traditional Knowledge with resource owners remaining central to the process,” said Toeolesulusulu said.

“We hope that the collective efforts will be fruitful and the long-awaited deliberations due to COVID 19 pandemic will prove that we can rise to the challenges and achieve our goals to save our planet.”

The 15th COP to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) is being held in Montreal, Canada from 7–19 December 2022.  Chaired by the Government of China, the CBD COP15 will result in a new Global Biodiversity Framework that will continue the Biodiversity Targets with the global goal of halting biodiversity loss.

Fourteen Pacific Islands countries are Party to the CBD. They are contributing to a unified One Pacific Voice on collective issues at COP15. The countries present in Montreal are the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.