Posted on September, 24 2019

New York, United States, 24th September, 2019, as world leaders gather for the 74th Annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York to debate the most important issues facing the planet, the H.E. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, has joined a multitude of global leaders to voice his support for an emergency declaration for a New Deal for Nature and People.
 
“Vietnam is making great efforts to join hands with the world in a transformation toward a green and circular economic model; where we will not exchange the environment for economic development, but rather, we will increase sustainable development and always put climate change adaptation, resources management, and environmental protection at a crucial place in our resolution and policy planning”, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in a video shown at an event called Leaders for Nature and People, with a high profile guest list including political leaders, corporate leaders, members of royal families and high-profile public figures.
 
Our planet is in crisis. Since 1970, wildlife populations have declined on average by 60%, while humanity’s impact and overexploitation of natural resources has grown exponentially. The consequences for people can be seen already through increasing fires, floods and extreme weather. Science tells us that, without urgent action, they will only get worse.
 
WWF together with many others is highlighting the unmissable opportunity that world leaders now have to course-correct. Next year, key international treaties – including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Nature Convention, and the Climate Accord – will be renegotiated, presenting a crucial chance to place sustainability at the heart of our political, economic and social systems. We are calling for an ambitious new deal for nature and people, designed to bring multiple efforts together to safeguard futures.
 
Vietnam is one of the top countries to be most affected by climate change, which is an ‘amplifier’ of Vietnam’s current environmental threats such as habitat loss, the decimation of biodiversity of flora and fauna, poorly planned infrastructure, and unsustainable natural resource extraction. The evidence of climate change impacts has never been clearer in our everyday lives, from heatwaves, forest fires and floods, to typhoons and droughts.
 
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also sent a strong message to other world leaders: “As a reliable and responsible member of the international community, Vietnam seeks to join hands with the international community and other stakeholders to call upon the UN for the development of a Declaration for a New Deal for Nature and People; emphasizing the building of a harmonious relationship between economic development and environmental protection, as well as between nature and people”.
 
The event is organised by WWF and partners on Monday 23 September – on the evening of the UN Climate Action Summit – to discuss the environmental emergency the world is now facing and call for an Emergency Declaration for Nature and People to be made at the 75th UN General Assembly next year. At the event, leaders are able to discuss and publicly support the need for an emergency declaration for nature and people. The declaration – to be signed by Heads of State and Government by September 2020 – will send a strong, united political signal that supports ambitious outcomes on climate, biodiversity, oceans and the SDGs in 2020.
 
Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF-International said “Leaders meeting in New York in 2020 will have the chance to secure a sustainable future for people and nature. The decisions they make in the next year will continue to have impacts for decades to come, and we all depend on them using this chance wisely. They must now signal their commitment to placing biodiversity at the center of international treaties next year. Most urgently, leaders must recognise the planetary emergency we now face by working to secure an Emergency Declaration for Nature and People.”
 
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Note
 
Link video statement of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WzBGTZzJqZv5vVdwbUskhGTdQxEu5Abx?usp=sharing
 
About the United Nations General Assembly meeting:
The 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will run from 17 - 30 September 2019 at the UN headquarters in New York City. The UNGA is one of the six principal organs of the UN, the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN.
Every September, world leaders gather at the UN headquarters in New York to debate the most important issues facing the planet. The meeting, known as the General Debate at the UNGA, is attended by representatives of all 193 UN Member States.
The first day of the high-level General Debate will be on Tuesday, 24 September.
 
About the event Leaders for Nature and People 
This event is hosted by and for Heads of State and Government and feature an exclusive preview of segments from Sir David Attenborough’s new film Saving Our Planet (due for release in early 2020). In addition, there will be an opportunity for leaders to discuss and to publicly support a Declaration on Nature and People in 2020. The event will also allow them to showcase their commitment to address the planetary emergency the world is currently facing, for example through renewing commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The attending political leaders will be joined by corporate leaders, members of royal families and high-profile public figures.
 
Guest speakers include: H.S.H Prince Albert II of Monaco, H.E. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe, H.E. President Alexander Van Der Bellen, Austria, H.E. President Danny Faure, Seychelles, H.E. President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Costa Rica, H.E. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Central African Republic, H.E. President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of Congo, H.E. Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway, H.E. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Fiji, H.E. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom, H.E. Prime Minister, Lotay Tshering, Bhutan, H.E. Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission. 
 
About New Deal for Nature and People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fNIpX6YF48
WWF is calling for strong commitments by Heads of State in 2020 to strengthen global targets and mechanisms that will reverse the loss of nature by 2030. To do so, governments, businesses and civil society need to work together and raise their ambition for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. 
WWF urges Ministers that are making critical decisions, to strengthen their commitments, in the areas of plastic pollution, sustainable food consumption and production, forests, biodiversity and sustainable development goals.