UN General Assembly
2020

We cannot have a healthy recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic if we do not heal our poor relationship with our natural environment. As the saying goes human health depends on nature’s health. We understand this well in Seychelles where the two main pillars of our economy, tourism and fishing, depend on the state of our natural, and especially our ocean, environment. So, on March 26 this year as the pandemic raged across the world, Seychelles went ahead and delivered on our 2012 Rio+20 commitment to protect 30 per cent of our giant exclusive economic zone of 1.34 million square kilometres by 2020. It was a recognition that even while we dealt with a public health emergency, we cherished the importance of nature to our people’s physical, economic and social wellbeing. We should adopt a similar approach to climate action to maintain and increase climate ambition in the context of the pandemic and prevent a post-COVID rebound in greenhouse gas emissions.