Soreng addresses UN summit on biodiversity

The president of the United Nations General Assembly convened the United Nations Summit on

Biodiversity

on Wednesday. Held at the level of heads of states and governments, with the theme ‘urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development’, it provided the participants, including Odisha’s

Archana Soreng

, the opportunity to ideate on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which will be adopted at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in 2021.

The opening segment of the summit started with the address of Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the UNGA, followed by that of António Guterres, secretary-general, United Nations. Soreng, one of the seven members of UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change and a member of the Khadia tribe, addressed the opening segment as the sole youth representative in the summit.

“First, nurture indigenous practices and empower local communities within decision-making structures for biodiversity conservation. For centuries, being responsible stewards of biodiversity, we have confronted environmentally destructive projects pursued by states and corporations. Our rights are being violated in the name of biodiversity conservation,” she said at the summit, where she spoke after Prince Charles.

Ahead of her participation in the summit, Soreng had initiated a consultative process with different stakeholders, starting with an inter-generational consultation process with her alma mater, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.


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