IUCN Statement to the 2024 UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Statement by Dr Grethel Aguilar, Director General 

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Climate change will likely push up to 130 million people into extreme poverty by 2030, and will adversely impact food security. The degradation of land and nature loss will greatly undermine people’s livelihoods and wellbeing if we do not act now.

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, emphasises that the business-as-usual approach to our food and water systems will not work.

And in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, there is a need to critically transform these systems to value and conserve nature, while safeguarding the human wellbeing of current and future generations.

Countries must scale up and re-purpose finance for biodiversity and climate, redirect harmful subsidies, and make trade and the circular economy improve the state of nature.

Nature-based Solutions are essential to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. These solutions can play a critical role in addressing biodiversity loss, safeguarding livelihoods, and achieving mitigation objectives and a just transition.

Furthermore, Excellencies, achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13 will also require dedicated and immediate action for the global ocean.

We urgently need equitable, fair, environmentally oriented, and just governance – combined with effective management.

In this sense, IUCN calls on Member States to swiftly ratify the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty.

On this journey, institutions must be well-equipped. IUCN, as a science-based organisation, is committed to informing policy-making through our leading knowledge and tools.

Ultimately, as we move towards the Summit of the Future, we must remember that while science provides us with the knowhow to reach our goals, what is most needed is the political will to act.

Thank you.