Minister: Innovative solutions necessary to deal with environment-related issues

Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad reviewed Saturday 11/09/2021 with Assistant UN Secretary-General for the Climate Action Team Selwin Hart Egypt’s vision about the climate change problem, and its impact on the national as well as international levels.

During her meeting with the UN official, Fouad also discussed how to support climate action, as Egypt is gearing up to host the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) in 2022.

The minister emphasized the need to seek innovative solutions to environment-related issues, stressing that, “the world doesn’t have the luxury of time anymore.”

Fouad added that the upcoming climate conference must pave the way for integration between policies on climate change and biodiversity.

She noted that as the chief of the 14th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2018, the minister was keen on creating links between the two issues through a post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

On that score, Fouad shed light on Egypt’s initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to merge the three Rio Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification, to unify efforts and achieve the objectives of these conventions.

Meanwhile, the UN representative hailed Egypt’s great contributions to climate talks, as well as commitment to ensuring a balance between climate adaptation finance and mitigation measures.

Hart also commended Egypt’s efforts in support of the interests of African states and other developing countries under the Paris Agreement to get their fair share of climate finance.

Source: State Information Service Egypt