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Hello, everyone. 

Thank you, Ms. Lagarde, for that introduction.

It’s always a pleasure working with President Macron to advance our shared priorities in terms of fighting climate change and protecting the environment, so thank you for hosting this summit today.

I am pleased to join Prime Minister Johnson, Prime Minister Solberg, and Mr. Tricoire for this very important discussion. My friends, our survival depends on nature’s survival. We are at a critical moment.

If we do not act, the ecosystems on which we depend for our water, air, and food could collapse.

We are all responsible for protecting nature, and Canada is doing its part.

Our government has already invested nearly $4 billion to plant 2 billion trees, protect wetlands, and support sustainable agriculture across our country.

Canada is part of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which will allow us to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and oceans.

Since 2015, we have increased the size of Canada’s protected marine and coastal areas from 1% to nearly 14%.

We are working with Indigenous Peoples to protect 25% of Canada’s land and oceans by 2025 and at least 30% by 2030.

And to ensure that biodiversity is taken into account in financial decisions, we are also joining the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Climate change and biodiversity are interconnected.

When sea levels rise, when droughts become the norm not the exception—this has catastrophic effects on natural habitats.

As an international community, we have a responsibility to act.

Canada will contribute up to $55 million to the UN’s Land Degradation Neutrality Fund to support sustainable land projects in low and middle-income countries. 

And because we can’t fight climate change without nature-based solutions, any future global climate finance contributions from Canada will include funds for biodiversity.

Our world is interconnected, and the destruction of natural habitats yields unexpected and disastrous results. Not only for the health of the planet, but also for the health of our communities.

That is why Canada will continue to take part in international research efforts on the relationship between the loss of nature and the increased risk of global pandemics. 

We must work together to prevent future global health crises. By adopting measures to protect nature, fight climate change, and promote scientific knowledge, we will make 2021 a defining year in our collective efforts to save the planet.

We all have a role to play, and we must work together to ensure that the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity follows through on our efforts to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren.

We look forward to working with other countries to build a fair, nature-positive, and carbon-neutral future.

Thank you.