Sierra Leone calls for more biodiversity funding
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Sierra Loaded
Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister, Jiwoh E. Abdulai, has called for increased international funding to help the least developed countries meet their biodiversity protection targets by 2030. He also advocated more flexible funding mechanisms and direct access for national institutions, according to Sierra Loaded.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh E. Abdulai, has called for increased international financial support to help the least developed countries meet global biodiversity conservation targets by 2030. He spoke during the high-level segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Sierra Loaded reports.
At a ministerial lunch with Diego Mesa Puyo, director-general of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Abdulai called for the accelerated mechanisms of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund to be extended to all GEF biodiversity funding. He also called for more flexible co-financing rules, recognising in-kind contributions and national reforms, as well as direct access for national and regional institutions to project funds.
The minister proposed linking biodiversity protection to rural economic development so that local communities could benefit from sustainable livelihoods. He also called for the strengthening of public institutions, environmental data collection and land-use planning tools, favouring permanent government structures over temporary project management units.
Abdulai said he supported debt-for-nature swaps and biodiversity credits, provided they were governed by social and environmental safeguards. He finally asked international partners to help the least developed countries eliminate harmful subsidies and align their national biodiversity strategies with their climate adaptation plans, emissions reduction commitments and poverty reduction strategies.
