The Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change will host the second National Biodiversity Conference from December 7-8, under the theme ‘Living in Harmony with Nature: Issues, Challenges and Solutions’.
 
Jamaica’s first National Biodiversity Conference was held in 2018 in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
Gillian Guthrie, acting chief technical director in the ministry, said this year’s conference “will reflect Jamaica’s commitment to successfully develop and implement the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework”.

The Conference will be addressed by Pearnel Charles Jr, minister of housing, urban renewal, environment and climate change.

Dr Shobha Maharaj, author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Intergovernmental Science/Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC)Reports, will deliver the keynote address on the nexus between biodiversity and climate change.   
 
There will also be a special lecture by Basile van Havre, co-chair of the Open-Ended Working Group on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity.  

“This lecture is important as the global community, including Jamaica, is now involved in negotiations for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which will include new global biodiversity targets to be finalised at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity scheduled for April 2022 in Kunming, China,” Guthrie said.