The Global Biodiversity Framework Early Action Support (GBF-EAS) initiative was launched in Tashkent on April 12. This initiative is a new joint endeavour of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources reported.
In December 2022, an Agreement was reached by 190 countries on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This historic framework sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Among the Framework’s key elements are 4 goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030. It provides a good foundation for global action on biodiversity, complementing the Paris Agreement on Climate, paving the way towards a climate-neutral, nature-positive, and resilient world by 2050.
The program provides a good framework for global biodiversity action, complementing the Paris Climate Agreement and paving the way for a climate-neutral, nature-positive and sustainable world by 2050, the report said.
By adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Uzbekistan as many other countries worldwide committed to setting its national targets to implement it. The launched project will support the government of Uzbekistan in revising its National Strategy and Action Plan for the conservation of biodiversity as well as relevant policies, monitoring, and financing of nature conservation in such a way that they correspond to the agenda of the global biodiversity conservation program.
The Action Plan to ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use includes:
- Improving the legal and regulatory framework;
- Improving the state registry and monitoring of fauna and flora;
- Improving modern scientific information on the state and significance of biodiversity, which is necessary for policy and decision-making;
- implementing measures to restore rare and endangered animal and plant species;
- strengthening control over illegal use of objects of fauna and flora;
- developing a system of protected areas (PAs) and ecological tourism;
- Raising the level of awareness and environmental culture of the population.
“Uzbekistan takes a pro-active position on global integration matters, seeks to support measures and make a significant contribution to achieve of an ambitious plan to implement broad-based actions to bring about a transformation in our societies' relationship with biodiversity and nature,” noted Minister of Natural Resources Aziz Abdukhakimov.
UNDP Resident Representative in Uzbekistan Matilda Dimovska emphasized: “Not only the livelihoods of many people depend on natural resources and their management, but also biodiversity loss and ecosystem services can push up costs, heighten risks and cause a decrease of economic performance. We’re already seeing this play out with the drying Aral Sea, or more frequent dust storms across the country. So, the need for accelerated action is clear!”
Biodiversity of Uzbekistan includes more than 27 thousand species: 14900 invertebrate species, 715 vertebrate species, 107 mammal species, 467 bird species, 61 reptile species, 3 amphibian species, 77 fish species, 11 thousand species of plants, fungi, algae, 4300 species of higher wild plants, of which 8% are endemic species. The Red Book of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2019) includes 206 animal species and 314 plant species.
Some of the major global goals include restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems worldwide by 2030, ending extinction of known species and reducing the risk and rate of extinction of all species tenfold by 2050, reducing risks from pesticides by at least 50% by 2030, sustainably managing agricultural, fish and forest areas and greatly expanding agroecology and other biodiversity-friendly practices. The full list of goals can be found in the program.
