The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, has stated that the proper conservation and management of biodiversity is a “key element” to promote a green economy that drives a sustainable development process.

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, has stated that the proper conservation and management of biodiversity is a “key element” to promote a green economy that drives a sustainable development process.

The Secretary of State made these statements during his speech before the Plenary of the XI Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which is attended by representatives of more than 160 countries to analyse the lines of action of international policy on conservation.

The achievement of biodiversity conservation objectives, according to the Secretary of State, “necessarily entails intensifying its integration into the decisions and actions of all sectoral policies, promoting synergies with other policies”. To this end, Federico Ramos has also called for the involvement and participation of all agents and sectors.

In this regard, he raised the need to develop new approaches based on the recognition of the value of natural assets and advocated the promotion of systems to assess the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as the costs derived from their degradation, so that they are integrated into political and economic decisions at all levels.

During this day, Ramos met with the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – whose Presidency is held by Spain – Achim Steiner, and with the Indian Minister of the Environment, Jayanthi Natarajan.