COP15 Statement of the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions

We, the Executive Secretaries of the regional commissions, at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (part two),

Recognizing the essential role and critical importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, including in underpinning the fight against poverty, supporting inclusive sustainable economic growth, furthering "green" and "blue" economies, ensuring food security and food sovereignty, and supporting implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,

Expressing concern about the multiple global crises that have arisen due to the impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, conflicts and wars, among other things, on human well-being, peace, health, the environment and development,

Expressing concern also about the gap in efforts to address the loss of nature due to multiple drivers of change, and highlighting the need for transformative changes in our societies, economies and institutions,

1. Welcome the development of, and invite Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to adopt, the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, as well as the complementary strategies for resource mobilization, biodiversity mainstreaming, capacity-building and gender, as well as assessment and monitoring;
2. Convinced that progress on enhancing biodiversity for sustainable development will require work that builds on complementary capacities from across the United Nations system of global entities and regional commissions to unlock additional and new resources and partnerships for biodiversity;
3. Reaffirm the importance of enhancing at all levels, including the regional level, cooperation and synergies, coherence and coordination in the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other multilateral environmental agreements, including biodiversity-related instruments such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Paris Agreement, as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, for much-needed integration and efficiency in implementing the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework;
4. Note that the regional level is a vital bridge to the global and national levels, and provides a platform to engage on the management of the global environmental commons, using regional mechanisms and forums, including the regional forums for sustainable development and the regional environmental ministers meetings, which can provide opportunities to: discuss -reflecting on differing regional approaches and recalling existing commitments - joint actions on biodiversity loss, including the design of, follow-up to and monitoring of regional plans and global agreements; and, leverage conditions for coordination and coherence with social, economic and financial sectors for development agendas;
5. Reaffirm the Secretary-General's Call to Action for Human Rights and its focus on the rights of future generations, climate justice and the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment;
6. Declare our determination to deliver on our commitments to the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and other biodiversity-related agreements, as key instruments for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, the mainstreaming of biodiversity in policies, programmes and operations, and the creation of opportunities for collective action for nature;
7. Commit to the:

• Promotion of the mainstreaming of biodiversity, and to the fostering of transformative changes in our societies, economies and institutions;
• Promotion of the development of human rights-based legal, institutional and policy frameworks regulating and securing the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, encompassing the protection of biodiversity through the collection and analysis of relevant data on biodiversity, and facilitating access to said data as a strategic condition for engagement with society to support behavioural changes, including through strengthening environmental justice and facilitating effective public access to information;
• Fostering of collaboration and dialogues within and between regions and coordination with relevant conventions, United Nations organizations, other stakeholders and processes in order to address biodiversity-related challenges;
• Strengthening of knowledge-sharing and exchange on biodiversity, including through the regional forums on sustainable development, to increase the visibility of biodiversity issues while drawing on and informing regional and global level United Nations collaboration and processes;
• Strengthening of the capacity of States Members of the United Nations to mobilize investments, including through enhancing access to bilateral and multilateral financing and promoting innovative financing mechanisms such as carbon credits,"green" and "blue" bonds and debt swaps for biodiversity and sustainable development for the purpose of implementing related programmes and other interventions;
• Identification of opportunities for internal policy alignment and coherence.

Signed on 15 December 2022, during the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (part two) (Montreal, Canada, 7-19 December 2022)