Australia has joined an international coalition of countries committed to forging a global deal to conserve 30 per cent of the world’s land and sea, in order to halt the loss of biodiversity.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would join the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, an intergovernmental group of 60 countries.
“Currently, Australia has more than 29 per cent of its land and sea in protected areas, compared to 15 per cent of land and 7 per cent of seas globally,” Mr Morrison said.
“We are well placed to make a strong contribution to a global ‘30 by 30’ target and encourage other countries to do the same,” he said.
Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley said being part of the HAC would allow Australia to play a leadership role in managing oceans and the Convention on Biological Diversity negotiations; and to promote the positive environmental outcomes the country achieved through its National Reserve System and Indigenous Protected Areas.
“Australia has one of the world’s largest representative systems of marine protected areas, covering 37 per cent of Australian waters, and we are looking to extend that to up to 45 per cent,” Ms Ley said.
“With one of the world’s largest maritime jurisdictions and measures already in place to protect the biodiversity of our land, we have demonstrated the ‘30 by 30’ target is achievable,” she said.
