
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The least developed countries (LDCs) on Wednesday asked for the doubling of international biodiversity public funding to them by 2030.
"It is our proposal that international biodiversity public funding to LDCs should be doubled by 2030. We further call for support in capacity-building and technology transfer to LDCs for sustainable biodiversity conservation and restoration," said Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera, who spoke on behalf of the LDCs at the UN Biodiversity Summit.
"As LDCs, we look forward to working with you all to address and resolve these discrepancies between our talk and our walk," he said in a pre-recorded statement.
The LDCs are profoundly dissatisfied that none of the 20 biodiversity targets set in 2010 were achieved in full, and only six were partially achieved, he said.
More than 60 percent of the world's coral reefs are under threat. Land degradation has reduced productivity in 23 percent of the global terrestrial area. One million species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction, many within decades, which is unprecedented in human history, he noted.
"If this trend continues, we face a future where between 30 to 50 percent of all species may be lost this century."
This loss is not restricted to plants and animals. It also entails enormous risks to human prosperity and well-being, he said.
"We must take collective measures to stop the ongoing devastation of biodiversity. We should build a global sustainable economy. This implies incorporating the reduction of inequalities into development models, enhancing access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, reducing unsustainable production and consumption, avoiding rampant wastage, and addressing environmental degradation," said Chakwera.
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