A photo exhibition entitled “Floral Sculptures and Endangered Species”

Ambassador Schweppe
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you all to the Palais des Nations on International Mother Earth Day for this outstanding photographic tribute to the diversity and beauty of our environment. Let me, first of all, thank Ambassador Schweppe and the Permanent Mission of Germany for highlighting – through this event – the urgent need to strengthen efforts to conserve our fragile ecosystems.

The facts are clear: the global decline in biodiversity is accelerating due to deforestation, changes in habitat and land degradation. Human activity has pushed extinctions to 1,000 times the natural rate. This negative trend is now compounded by climate change. Loss of biodiversity is undermining our ability to realize the Millennium Development Goals. It is estimated that the economic cost of degradation and destruction of the planet’s nature-based resources amounts to between two and five trillion dollars annually.

The United Nations General Assembly has designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity to mobilize support for confronting this unfolding biodiversity crisis more effectively. In September, the General Assembly will hold a special high-level meeting to reinforce political will ahead of the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in October where a new strategic plan for implementing the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will be adopted. As the current Chair of the Convention, Germany has been very effective in bringing the alarming data forward and in galvanizing the international community into action for biodiversity. Ambassador Schweppe, we thank Germany for this strong commitment.

As a hub for environmental action, the United Nations in Geneva is actively engaged in support of biodiversity and a sustainable future for all. In less than two months, on Saturday, 5 June, the entire United Nations family will go green in a system-wide observance of World Environment Day, based on an idea from our staff through UN Special. The magnificent Ariana Park here at the Palais des Nations will be open to the public to showcase its rich biodiversity, there will be a variety of activities on the Place des Nations, and the World Intellectual Property Organization will be open to the public also. I appreciate greatly the support we have already received from a number of Member States and I hope that many more will take part.

Loss of biodiversity affects us all – and we must all be involved to reverse the trends. Our celebration of World Environment Day is part of a concerted effort to engage individuals – to raise awareness of how each and every one of us can make a difference by changing our habits and by making greening of our activities a personal priority. I invite you all to learn more about this unique event through the UNOG website – and I hope to see all of you on the day.

We have one planet – and one future. Let us work together to protect it.

Thank you very much.