Webinar Conference: "Building back better" -- 10 September 2020 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (GMT +2)

The Government of Egypt, in the context of its Presidency of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is organizing a webinar on protecting biodiversity, combating land degradation and mitigating climate change to reduce the risks of future pandemics jointly with the Secretariat of the Convention. This webinar is also organized within the context of the initiative by Egypt to promote a coherent approach for addressing biodiversity loss, climate change and land and ecosystem degradation.

This webinar will highlight the links between the health of the planet and the health of people and explore how the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, combating land degradation, and fighting climate change can help to reduce the risks of future pandemics as part of an inclusive and comprehensive “One Health” approach.

The following questions will be addressed:

• What is the role of ecosystem conservation and restoration and other “nature-based solutions” in providing jobs during the recovery and in reducing the risk of future pandemics while also contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and land degradation neutrality?
• How can we ensure the harvesting, trade and use of wildlife is just, legal, sustainable and safe?
• How to ensure food security while reducing the risk of future pandemics, and avoiding biodiversity loss, land degradation and climate change?

The outcome of the webinar will be transmitted to the upcoming United Nations Summit on Biodiversity and the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at its third meeting. It will also inform the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at their meetings in 2021.

More information:

Meeting documents

Convention on Biological Diversity Guidance on integrating biodiversity into One Health Approaches

Building Back Better: A Way Forward from COVID-19