Seychelles takes part in Stockholm +50 meeting in Sweden |04 June 2022
The United Nations Environment Programme convened a meeting for heads of state, ministers and delegates from over 130 countries in Stockholm + 50 meeting, in Stockholm, Sweden from June 2-3, 2022.
The meeting was hosted by Sweden and the government of Kenya under the theme ‘’A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All – Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity’.
Seychelles was represented by the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Flavien Joubert, and Denis Matatiken, the principal secretary in the Environment department.
Stockholm +50 is a historic moment to commemorate the 50 years of actions since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, which made the environment a pressing global issue for the first time. Despite global interventions, we still need to join hands and take bold action now that the world is suffering from the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste – that threatens life and livelihood.
In his statement, Minister Joubert called for leaders to learn from our failures of the past and take consideration of the needs and future of small island developing states (Sids).
“If we want to leave a legacy for our children, we must implement urgent actions now”, even more it is about our existence.
Minister Joubert further added that “Seychelles is firmly committed to the global ambitions but that this is not easy as the country graduates from middle to higher income status. GDP is not a good measure of the costs of climate impacts, about the fragility of our economy and our food resources, about the costs of safeguarding our ocean space or about our energy challenge.” He invited all partners to reflect on how equity can be enhanced to enable Sids, and developing countries to continue on the path of sustainable development.
The minister and principal secretary for Environment also participated as panellists at a high-level segment of the Basel Rotterdam and Stockhom Convention held on June 1 in the presence of its executive director Rolph Payet. This high-level segment is a preface to the conference of parties meeting which will be held in Geneva in the coming week. Seychelles contribution at the meeting focused on appropriate financial, technological and knowledge support to enable countries to deliver and also industrialised countries assuming global leadership roles for solving the pollution problem.
Press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment