Zhaparov addresses 15th meeting of COP to Convention on Biological Diversity

Bishkek, Oct. 12, 2021 . / Kabar / . President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov delivered a video message at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), his press service said. Following is speech of the Kyrgyz president: “Distinguished President of People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping! Distinguished Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres! Distinguished heads of delegations! I am glad to greet all the participants of the 15th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. I am sincerely grateful to the distinguished President of People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping for his invitation to such an important and internationally significant event Distinguished ladies and gentlemen! The Kyrgyz Republic is committed to the goal of UN Convention on Biological Diversity and supports the hosting of its regular session in Kunming, in order to solve topical issues of biodiversity preservation on our planet. It is very important that our meeting is taking place before such an international event as the twenty sixth Conference of Parties of the UN Climate Change Convention, as this phenomenon has become one of reasons for flora and fauna destruction on Earth. For thirty years Kyrgyzstan remains an active promoter of mountain countries’ interests on international arena in order to solve the issues of sustainable development and climate change influence. In this regard I announced the initiative to declare the 2022 as the International Mountain Year, adopt the Five-year Program on Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions and to convene the Bishkek-plus-twenty-five Global Summit in 2027. Distinguished heads of delegations, Each year we are facing more negative influence of climate change on our unique ecosystem of the great Tian Shan and Pamir. Due to this reason we are acting together with the interested states and conduct adaptive measures to protect mountain biodiversity. The protection of a such noble animal as snow leopard from the extinctions is one of the successful international initiatives. I would like to remind that our country hosted the World Forums on Snow Leopard and its Ecosystems Preservation in 2013 and 2017. Recently the UN General Assembly have supported our initiative and adopted the resolution “Nature knows no borders…” in which the importance of multilateral cooperation for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity effective implementation is also mentioned. However, today fifteen types of mammals, twenty six types of birds, one hundred fifty types of insects and more than thirty types of other invertebrates are under threat of extinction in Kyrgyzstan. Our country gives priority to the protection of special natural territories and the increase of mountain forests which are a home for many animals and plants from the red book of the country. We are planning to increase the area of protected natural territories, in accordance with the international commitments of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Also, we are in favor of development and adoption of a special target program on mountain forests under the UN aegis. In this regard I seek the support of the UN Member States and the Secretary-General for this and the above-mentioned international initiatives of Kyrgyzstan. Distinguished participants, I want to pay attention to the negative influence of human activity on nature, resources of biodiversity. Particularly we should stop at the destruction of centuries-old glaciers as the result of unconscionable work of foreign investors which has undermined the integrity and rich diversity of flora and fauna of our mountains and rivers. Together we must counteract such unacceptable business. In concluding part of my statement, I want to mention that Kyrgyzstan is open and ready for active international cooperation, and only by joint efforts we could preserve the biodiversity of our planet and achieve desirable sustainable development in harmony with environment. Thank you for the attention”.