Director-General’s Opening Statement at World Environment Day

 Director-General’s Opening Statement at World Environment Day

5 June 2020, 12:34 – 14:23

 

Thank you, Dan.

Excellencies, colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very happy to see all of you healthy and fresh.

Good morning and good afternoon, welcome to this virtual event to celebrate the World Environment Day.

I am proud to be opening with my dear colleagues, Ms Elisabeth Mrema, acting Executive Secretary in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). I still remember my last public speech with you, before the lockdown, here on the 15^th Conference of the Parties (COP15). It was a consultative meeting here at FAO Headquarters that we offered.

Ms Monique Eliot, I saw you several times virtually in the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting. Welcome Ms Eliot is the Director-General of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and all of you friends.

The 2020 World Environment Day theme is “Time for nature” and it focuses on biodiversity. Biodiversity provides essential infrastructure to support all life on earth and it is also a key base of the ecosystem. More importantly, it is a base, genetic base for food diversity.

I always say that we have to build up biodiversity’s close linkages with food diversity. When I started my career 40 years ago, as a geneticist of plant breeding.

It is an excellent opportunity to rethink the relationship among humans, animals, and the environment. The recent events, from the locust infestations across East Africa, to the fall army worm, and now the global disease pandemic, demonstrates the interdependency of humans, animals and the environment.

How do we want to improve our agri-food system to ensure our sustainable management, our natural resources and for ensuring that nature has the reverence it deserves.

Our immediate priority is to address the public health emergency.

Just an hour ago, I had a good meeting with the European Commissioner on the health. We shared all the views related to issues on health and the One Health Approach, food safety, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

We must ensure the continued food supply and our long-term response must be addressed, underlining the causes of the pandemic.

Ladies and Gentleman,

The loss and the degradation of biodiversity is increasing the risk and exposure of people to emerging diseases. We know that despite all our technologies advances, we are dependent on healthy ecosystems for our health and food. There is evidence that landscape changes and biodiversity loss are more frequently re-emerging infectious diseases.

The interconnectedness of humans, animals and the environment is important in understanding and addressing any threats to food systems, agriculture production and livelihoods. This is particularly important for rural livestock farming communities where animals play a greater role for society and food security providing income, transportation, fuel and feed and clothing as well as food. The three ‘Fs’: fuel, feed and food.

At FAO we have made progress to stream biodiversity across agricultural sectors especially since last year.

FAO launched its flagship report on the State of World Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. This report highlights the need to protect our natural resources including biodiversity and the need to conserve and use genetic resources to increase productivity.

We know that we can produce enough food to feed the world and protect the environment at the same time. Eradicating hunger is essential.

The FAO adopted its Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across agriculture sectors, a strategy that automatically aims at reducing the negative impact of agriculture practices on biodiversity, to promote sustainable agriculture practices and to conserve, enhance, preserve and restore biodiversity as a whole.

Our Members are guiding us on the Action Plan to implement the strategy over the next two years. FAO also developed a range of biodiversity related tools and guidance across sectors, including the international code of conduct for the sustainable use and management of fertilizers and the Ten Elements of Agroecology.

We need to build on these initiatives and continue to work together.

We know that restoration and sustainable management of productive ecosystems and landscapes is fundamental to preventing pandemic diseases. FAO is therefore proud to be co-leading the UN Decade on Ecosystems Restoration 2021-2030 together with UNEP to support and scale up efforts preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of the ecosystems worldwide.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Now I warmly welcome the Deputy Minister and Director-General of Natural Resources and Ecosystems Conservation of Indonesia, Mr Wiratno. I much appreciate the Government of Indonesia for its contribution to the launch event of 2020 edition of the State of the World Forests.

I also wish to welcome the Ambassador Ms Gloria Isabel Ramírez Ríos, Permanent Representative of Colombia to FAO, as Colombia is officially hosting today’s World Environment Day 2020.

Finally, through the Ambassador Mr Jan Tombiński, my old friend, I would like to thank the European Union (EU) and the Commissioners for their new financial support to complement and strengthen the One Health Approach, building on the existing Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme.

I just highlighted thiswith the EU Commissioner on health, and also the opportunity of this project that will be to increase understanding and zoonotic risk, along with the supply chains from the forest to the fork.

It will also assist the countries to build their capacities to predict zoonotic risks and set up measures to prevent and mitigate these risks and their consequences on public health, food systems and biodiversity.

I know, our colleagues in the OIE have a lot of long experience on that, but at FAO we have just recruited a new Chief Veterinary Officer. We really want to stress the collaboration with colleagues in OIE on these issues. Of course, we have to collaborate more closely with WHO and learn from lessons in what we are facing.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Biodiversity mainstreaming across agriculture sectors and prevention for new diseases outbreak request joint efforts.

Farmers, fishers, livestock keepers and foresters are needed to work together and apply a proper practice in their conduct.

Consumers have also a very important role to play.

The Membership, with relevant ministers – you know each country has different ministers dealing with those issues, from agriculture, animal husbandry, environment, food safety, food security, markets, governance, science, technology, innovation and so on. So all those relevant ministers should work together and of course as one of the international organizations here, FAO, we will work together with other partners and the sister international organizations who need to be on board.

In other words, all our sectors and the whole of society related to the production value chains or supply chains need to properly collaborate on our path to transformation.

Transformation of agriculture, transformation of environment and transformation of food systems.

We all need to show our reverence and sensitivity to nature. Let us work together, learning together and contributing together.

I wish that you keep in mind that every day should be World Environment Day, not only one day out of 365 days.

There are so many Days, but for the environment we are living in, it should be individually by yourself, not only environment at large, but also the food waste, food loss, consumption patterns, health, you name it. All those related to the environment.

I give one strong sentence today: I wish that you all keep in mind that every day should be World Environment Day.

Thank you for your attention.