The IUCN Local Action Summit took place on 3 September 2021—the opening day of the IUCN World Conservation Congress—in Marseille, France. Leaders convened to showcase and galvanise conservation efforts in cities and regions, make the case for a nature-based recovery to COVID-19, and announce ambitious action pledges for nature. Here follows a translated transcript of the speech delivered by Abba Bérangère, the French Secretary of State for Biodiversity.
Thank you and good afternoon everyone and hello Marseille. I am very happy indeed. This is the first time that I have spoken at IUCN. I am pleased to be together with local elected representatives.
Everything we do in terms of environmental policy can only be achieved on a broader front as quickly as we need to execute it if we work together. I haven’t been in the government for very long but we have looked at the national biodiversity strategy and we need to do this looking at the land.
My experience as a local citizen has taught me that there are limits on what politicians can do. Sometimes, politicians are not up to the urgency of the situation.
Until 2021, I was involved in the formulation of biodiversity policy which we tended to undertake with experts. What we saw in the first half of 2021 is that there is great value in these exchanges, in each of these areas we have been able to bring about strong participation.
We have taken on this responsibility across the country. Now we are looking into what IUCN is doing and we believe that giving this space to local authorities is essential.
It should be possible for us in terms of legislative space to take certain decisions to see what can be done by local authorities in France.
A lot of people have been in touch with us to ask what we are doing. We have set up a network and are now talking to each other. We have for example looked at soils. Also, we have looked at the impact of the recovery plan. We have looked at wastelands, sustainable development, urbanisation programmes and nature-based solutions.
We have got things moving in terms of policy, but we need to move even faster and take a broader approach. We need to consider what already exists and build on that. There is going to be a certain amount of disruption. We need to use the resources we have wisely.
Thank you.