CAIRO – Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said that Egypt is among the first countries that have applied the nature-based solutions (NbS) in the North Coast and Nile Delta, in seven governorates.
The minister made the remarks on the fringe of launching a new discussion paper by the global ENACT Partnership at United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16), according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment on Thursday.
The paper outlines three policy proposals that should be implemented to ensure that nature-based solutions (NbS) can effectively address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation.
Fouad emphasized that this year has been exceptional for the NbS initiative in highlighted efforts made to activate it and expand the network of participating countries since its inception during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), which took place in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022
The initiative has further accelerated its partnerships on Biodiversity Day at COP28, and subsequently launching its first report at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), the minister added.
The paper from the ENACT Partnership – which stands for Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation – comes during what’s known as the “triple COP year” in 2024: the Conference of Parties for each of the three Rio Conventions, according to the website of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Those include UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
The COPs offer a critical moment for the global community to redouble and focus its efforts on fighting the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation.
The 17-page paper synthesizes recent scientific findings on NbS, highlighting their capacity to provide significant adaptation and mitigation benefits.
The ambitious global partnership, which was created in November 2022, aims to employ NbS to enhance the protection from and resilience to climate impacts of at least 1 billion vulnerable people, secure up to 2.4 billion hectares of ecosystem integrity, and significantly increase global mitigation efforts through protecting and restoring carbon-rich ecosystems.
It is co-chaired by Egypt and Germany and composed of 18 state and non-state actors including state members from all seven continents.
