As Prepared for Delivery

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

On behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it is a privilege to join our close partner, CITES, to mark World Wildlife Day and the 50^th Anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) coming into being.

You may be familiar with the African proverb:

If you want to go fast, go alone -- but if you want to go far, go together.

However, what if we must go far and fast?

We stand at a pivotal moment for people and planet where we must turn the historic commitments of the new Global Biodiversity Framework into action by 2030.

Global emissions must be halved this decade to avert the existential threat posed by climate change.

And we must accelerate on all fronts if we are to achieve the Global Goals.

Crucially, going far and fast requires extra-ordinary partnerships.

Partnerships that embrace different speeds.

That means supporting the slowest, and the most vulnerable to change as well as championing and scaling-up the first and quickest to act.

That is a defining feature of CITES, which has always forged bold partnerships to protect wildlife in every corner of the globe.

At UNDP, we know the major inroads that can be made to protect and restore wildlife through cooperation.

For example, consider Argentina where wild jaguars are returning to habitats where they had been absent for 70 years as a result of efforts by local communities, the Global Environment Facility and UNDP.

Or look to Ghana where UNDP is working with partners including the government, the Green Climate Fund, and the Global Shea Alliance to restore 500,000 hectares of savannah forest and shea parkland.

The new UNDP Nature Pledge is the organization’s commitment to support some 140 countries to meet their ambitious targets under the new Global Biodiversity Framework.

We can only achieve the transformational change we need through partnerships -- with governments; key partners like CITES; Indigenous peoples and local communities; civil society; women and young people; and the private sector.

At this global inflection point, partnerships can't settle for the ordinary.

In this spirit, I would like to thank our friends and colleagues at CITES for their extraordinary efforts and longstanding cooperation as we mark the 50^th Anniversary of the signing of the Convention.

Here’s to moving far and fast together this World Wildlife Day.

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)