Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh Nhan, Deputy Director General, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,
Ms Yuko Kurauchi, Program Specialist of BES-Net,
Distinguished policymakers, advisors, scientists, practitioners, and cherished partners from Cameroon, Colombia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Viet Nam,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a privilege to address you all this morning for today’s Trialogue that serves to connect key stakeholders from 8 BES Solution Fund countries to both promote this policy-science-practice interface and to share reflections on continuing environmental challenges we collectively face being in the 21st century.

From Viet Nam, we’d like to express our most sincere admiration for your persistent efforts in driving progress in various corners of the world to continue contributing to our universal goals, which are most recently defined in the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). From women’s empowerment in Cameroon’s agro-forestry, piloting pollinator-friendly land restoration techniques in Kazakhstan, to the capacity building in macrophotography, stingless bee management, bat pollination, and pollinator garden design in Trinidad and Tobago, etc.

This Trialogue couldn’t have come at a better time. The world’s biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented pace, plagued by unsustainable development practices, pollution, and climate change. “We confront a host of existential threats – from the climate crisis to disruptive technologies – and we do so at a time of chaotic transition”, as the UN’s Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres puts it in his remarks at the recent UN General Assembly.

The imperative to realize actions collaboratively and methodically in alignment with pledged GBF commitments has never been greater. We’re only 7 years away from 2030 to both fully realize the GBF as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, only 15% of which are on track to be achieved by 2030. Sustainable development wouldn’t materialize without enabling natural ecosystems and their biodiversity being the backbone for the “sustainability” aspect. This crucial juncture beckons diverse communities to come together to level the playing field, to extend the dialogues beyond global accords and strengthen actions.

There introduces the Trialogue.

This is a three-way dialogue among key stakeholders of biodiversity’s and ecosystem services’ conservation. The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) in support of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), has utilized this transformative approach in fostering necessary and sometimes challenging conversations, particularly the consultation process leading up to producing countries’ National Ecosystem Assessments, including that for Vietnam.

The choice of holding the Trialogue in Viet Nam acknowledges the country’s remarkable efforts to preserve its unique ecological importance. Viet Nam, known globally as a biodiversity hotspot, is home to unique ecosystems, including mountains, tropical forests, limestone karst formations, marine and coastal ecosystems.

In addition, Viet Nam at large has placed great importance on enabling spaces for cross-community discussions, most notably with the Viet Nam Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Partnership Forum (VBPF) under establishment, a process being led by NBCA/MONRE. More specifically, the recently revised Law on Environmental Protection in 2020 establishes a legal basis for Payments for Marine and Wetland Ecosystem Services, accelerating progress beyond the successful implementation of PES for forest ecosystem services (PFES) which has been a crucial source of additional financing for the local protectors of natural resources. With the GBF adopted in December last year, initiatives like BES-Net have poured their resources into supporting the country to deliver the ambitious biodiversity targets to contribute greater to the implementation of the GBF. UNDP Vietnam is proud to have been a trusted partner with the Government of Vietnam and MONRE in putting forward such agendas.

Going forward, UNDP Vietnam will continue working with MONRE and the Government in facilitating the review and revision of important legal documents such as the Law on Biodiversity, to create more enabling environment for greater involvement of the private sector and to unlock potential financial resources for biodiversity and ecosystem services protection and management. This Trialogue is a precious opportunity for us to learn from the successes (as well as the failures) from the participating countries, for us to move ahead more informed and more strategically, yet more humbly.

Today, we convene here at this International Trialogue with 8 BES Solution Fund countries to celebrate our successes, share our reflections, and discuss our future together. UNDP takes great pride in facilitating not only practical implementation of biodiversity-related solutions but also dialogues among key stakeholders that will likely make a difference.

The work continues and there’s more we can do together!

Thank you.