Pretoria – South Africa has handed over the chairmanship of the Group of Like-Minded Mega-diverse Countries (LMMCs) to Guatemala after leading the group for two years.
Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Barbara Thomson, handed over the chairmanship to the Under-Secretary of National Council of Protected Areas of Guatemala, Marco Tax Marroquin, on the sidelines of the high level segment of the 12th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Pyeongchang, Korea.
The Group of LMMCs was established in 2002 in Cancun, Mexico, as a consultation and cooperation mechanism to promote parties’ common interests and priorities related to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
The declaration, establishing the group, acknowledged that biological resources and the associated environmental services have an immense strategic, economic and social value, and offer development opportunities to the populations of these countries and the international community.
The mega-diverse countries are a group of countries that harbour the majority of the Earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse. Conservation International identified 17 mega-diverse countries in 1998.
LMMCs support more than 70% of biological diversity. This group of countries represents less than 10% of the global surface, but supports more than 70% of the biological diversity on earth.
The 17 founding members of the LMMC are Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela. Guatemala joined the LMMC in 2011.
South Africa ranks third in biological diversity worldwide, after Brazil and Indonesia.
Deputy Minister Thomson highlighted that the members of the LMMC were united in the commitment to nature, conservation, sustainable use and the fair and equitable utilisation of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
She said it was fitting that the group of LMMCs had come together at the meeting of the world’s Environment Ministers which has as its theme Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.
She said it was important to ensure that biodiversity and ecosystems are effectively integrated into the post 2015 development agenda.
“Our global sustainability agenda must integrate the three pillars of sustainable development through sustainable utilisation of natural resources and ecosystems as a precondition for long-term poverty eradication and well-being.
“Development of the Sustainable Development Goals should therefore draw from progress made and lessons learnt from the Millennium Development Goals and must not deviate from agreed-to agreements and targets in the relevant conventions,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
