Egypt's Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad during UN Biodiversity Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, 13 November 2018 (Photo courtesy Ministry of Environment official Facebook Page)
Egypt has said it will give priority to environmental challenges and biodiversity issues in the African continent during a UN biodiversity conference it is hosting over the coming weeks.
Egypt opened an African Biodiversity Summit on 13 November held in the run-up to the UN Biodiversity Conference COP14, which runs from 17 to 29 November in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
"Egypt will make every effort to put African issues within the priorities of the Conference of the Parties (COP14)," Egypt's Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said on Tuesday, according to a ministry statement.
Egypt will team up with fellow African countries to "ensure the welfare and protection of the environment in Africa and the world," the minister said.
She added that Egypt aims to adopt a coordinated approach to address the challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation in Africa.
Tuesday's meeting is held in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the African Union, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, as well as other partners.
During the African summit, environment ministers and key partners aim to tackle and offer policy and strategic guidance on Africa’s biodiversity priorities as well as promote synergetic implementation of the three Rio conventions – the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), according to the conference's official website.
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