Opening Speech by the UN RC at the High-Level Opening of the 7th Meeting of the Carpathian Convention (COP7)

Doberdan, Bonjour,

Madame la Ministre de la protection de l environment, Irena Vujovic,

Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of the UN environment programme Elisabeth Maruma Mrma,

Excellencies & Distinguished guests from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Ukraine, and from other alpine countries.  

It is a privilege to deliver the opening remarks at this COP7 of the Carpathian convention in this gorgeous Yugoslav Salon.

Serbia has been my home for the past 4 years. During that time, I have discovered that this is a country of incredible natural, cultural and historical diversity, one of Europe 6 biodiversity hot spots with 2/3rd of europe’s bird fauna, more than 40% of its land mammals, all this over less than 1% of European continent land space. A true gift for me as nature lover.

In those same 4 years, and in fact, since the last COP, this region has gone through multiple very dramatic crises: COVID, the war in Ukraine, massive movements of people, the energy crisis, and the increasing effects of Climate Change. These crises have diverted much of our collective attention away from the topics of environmental protection and sustainable development – which are at the heart of the Carpathian Convention and at the heart of the work of the United Nations.

At the same time, in the wake of COVID, a growing body of research has pointed to a direct link between the destruction of nature and disease outbreaks — spotlighting the role of protecting and restoring nature in preventing future pandemics. And the energy crisis is forcing our economies to accelerate the transition towards renewables, and hopefully build our world with a much more effective use of natural resources. So from these crises, much has been learned which can positively influence the work done under the Carpathian convention.

This Convention is unique in its geographical and substantive scope and is based on 2 fundamental principles which are important for the UN: Regional and transboundary collaboration, and multi sectoral integrated approach. It is a remarkable success of collective efforts across borders, across EU and non EU Member States, one that we should expand with an ambitious Programme of Works, and one that we could make a lot more visible to the general public. We need positive stories at a time when the public space is occupied by so much negative narratives.

I will say a few words on what has changed since the last COP: there has been progress related to environmental protection – in Serbia, the opening of Cluster 4 of the EU acquis in 2021 was a good signal, and much work has been done on the legislative and regulatory framework for environment, pollution and climate change, or on sustainable food systems -

There are old and new threats, such as continuous degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats through illegal logging, water and soil pollution, and of course we see the sharp increase of Climate change effects: heat waves, droughts, fires, floods, which are stretching ecosystems to their limits. We also see a surge of unplanned and unregulated urban development and construction in fragile mountainous environments, including in tourism sector – and there, I hope we can get a lot more attention, compliance and innovation from the transport and construction sectors.

There are also new opportunities, such as the adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework last December in Montreal – I am sure colleagues will talk about it. And we now have the EU Green Deal which brings both a framework of action, and financial support for the region.

But, mostly, we are going too slow. And this is my call today: the necessity to accelerate action, raise awareness, educate our children, foster public participation and private sector innovation, intersectoral cooperation, augment green financing, all this to carve the principles of sustainable development, environmental protection and the preservation of biological diversity in political, economic and social endeavours.

As a conclusion, let me just say that the United Nations is Serbia articulates Agenda 2030 in 3 strategic priorities in its cooperation framework with the government of Serbia - one of which is the Green Transformation. Under this, agencies such as UNEP, UNDP, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNOPS support the realisation of the sustainable development goals and pilote new approaches to address the triple planetary crisis. Most importantly, we aim to shape solutions for the more vulnerable segments of the population, in the spirit of Leaving No One Behind.

I wish the Carpathian Convention a happy 20th anniversary and I share my sincere congratulations to all the seven parties and the Secretariat for the work done. I thank Poland for its leadership in the past 3 years, and I know that Serbia will have great ambitions under its upcoming presidency, bringing the experience and assets of the Southeastern region. I wish you a fruitful and collaborative conference towards our common aspiration of living in harmony with nature, for generations of today and generations to come. Hvala!