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UN PhotoNAIROBI / UNEP BIODIVERSITY INTERVIEW
STORY: NAIROBI / UNEP BIODIVERSITY INTERVIEW
TRT: 04:33
SOURCE: UNIFEED-NAIROBI
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 AUGUST 2026, NAIROBI, KENYA
03 AUGUST 2026, NAIROBI, KENYA
1. Wide shot, Flags and exterior of United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)
2. Wide shot, conference of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“Biodiversity is maybe not as well understood as climate, (but) biodiversity is the diversity of all life on earth, and it underpins our ability to live and thrive on this planet. So thanks to biodiversity, we have food. Biodiversity gives us clean water. It helps us fight climate change. It makes us more resilient. So all these issues matter to all of us. But biodiversity is also in crisis, and we're facing a challenge because biodiversity loss continues to outpace all the efforts we are making to stop it.”
3. Wide shot, delegates walking
4. Wide shot, podium of the CBD conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“Africa is host of 25 percent of the world's biodiversity. And of course it is also impacted strongly by climate change. Climate change is the main driver for biodiversity loss. Africa is in the front line of suffering from biodiversity loss. At the same time, Africa is also facing a lot of challenges in terms of having the financial and technological means to fight biodiversity loss. So one of the important decisions or discussions that we will be having here in Nairobi is about resource mobilization, is about how we can mainstream biodiversity better into decision making, how the financial institutions can be brought to consider biodiversity in their actions, but also what can be done domestically to raise more resources.”
6. Various shots, exterior of the conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“That is our biggest challenge - How can we turn this around? How can we make everybody understand - people and businesses, understand that biodiversity matters for them, that destroying biodiversity means you essentially destroy what you are building your lives on, and then take the right decisions.”
8. Wide shot, delegates walking outside the conference
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“There are a lot of challenges that biodiversity faces. Mostly it is that the drivers of biodiversity loss continue unabated. So we see climate change, our climate heating up, the influx of invasive alien species responsible for the loss of many species that we know, pollution, and overexploitation. All these factors continue to drive biodiversity loss. But maybe the most worrying issue of all is that the world keeps bankrolling this destruction of nature. We see that the world spends 30 times more money on destroying nature than it spends on working with nature.”
10. Wide shot, Astrid Schomaker talking
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“The overall topic we're looking at COP17 is taking action for nature. And that is about this idea of moving from alignment to concrete implementation. Now what is standing out this time is the global review. It is built on a report to which countries have contributed by putting in place their national reports. Also, other UN agencies have contributed. We have a very solid understanding of where we are. And now it is taking this understanding of where we are and translating it into recommendations on how we can move forward faster.”
12. Wide shot, delegates talking outside conference
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“Perhaps the most promising message out of the global report is that the framework that we now have in place has created unprecedented engagement with nature. We see more action taken by governments. We see businesses and finance institutions try to understand how they depend on nature, how they impact nature, what risks do they face? But then also, how can they change their behavior? And for people as well, to understand that working with nature rather than against nature helps all of us, I think, is becoming something that people think about and talk about even more, because everybody has agency. Everybody can do something to help turn around the state of biodiversity loss.”
14. Wide shot, flags
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened its implementation meeting today (4 Aug) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) acknowledged that, “biodiversity is maybe not as well understood as climate, (but) biodiversity is the diversity of all life on earth, and it underpins our ability to live and thrive on this planet. So, thanks to biodiversity, we have food. Biodiversity gives us clean water. It helps us fight climate change. It makes us more resilient. So all these issues matter to all of us. But biodiversity is also in crisis, and we're facing a challenge because biodiversity loss continues to outpace all the efforts we are making to stop it.”
The technical and implementation reviews of the Convention mark the last occasion to prepare a landmark Conference of the Parties (COP17) due to take place in from 19 to 30 October 2026, in Yerevan, Armenia.
Schomaker stressed the important for this meeting to take place in Africa. She said on Monday (3 Aug), “Africa is host of 25 percent of the world's biodiversity. And of course it is also impacted strongly by climate change. Climate change is the main driver for biodiversity loss. Africa is in the front line of suffering from biodiversity loss. At the same time, Africa is also facing a lot of challenges in terms of having the financial and technological means to fight biodiversity loss. So, one of the important decisions or discussions that we will be having here in Nairobi is about resource mobilization, is about how we can mainstream biodiversity better into decision making, how the financial institutions can be brought to consider biodiversity in their actions, but also what can be done domestically to raise more resources.”
She added her concerns about the topic, regretting, “there are a lot of challenges that biodiversity faces. Mostly it is that the drivers of biodiversity loss continue unabated. So we see climate change, our climate heating up, the influx of invasive alien species responsible for the loss of many species that we know, pollution, and overexploitation. All these factors continue to drive biodiversity loss. But maybe the most worrying issue of all is that the world keeps bankrolling this destruction of nature. We see that the world spends 30 times more money on destroying nature than it spends on working with nature.”
This is what Parties to the Convention will aim to address at COP17.
The Executive Secretary explains, “the overall topic we're looking at COP17 is taking action for nature. And that is about this idea of moving from alignment to concrete implementation. Now what is standing out this time is the global review. It is built on a report to which countries have contributed by putting in place their national reports. Also, other UN agencies have contributed. We have a very solid understanding of where we are. And now it is taking this understanding of where we are and translating it into recommendations on how we can move forward faster.”
On a positive note, Shomaker observed, “Perhaps the most promising message out of the global report is that the framework that we now have in place has created unprecedented engagement with nature. We see more action taken by governments. We see businesses and finance institutions try to understand how they depend on nature, how they impact nature, what risks do they face? But then also, how can they change their behavior? And for people as well, to understand that working with nature rather than against nature helps all of us, I think, is becoming something that people think about and talk about even more, because everybody has agency. Everybody can do something to help turn around the state of biodiversity loss.”
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is a landmark international agreement, adopted by 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022 as a roadmap towards the global vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050.
