PRESS RELEASE: Global experts to create regenerative climate action roadmap
Global experts to create regenerative climate action roadmap
World-renowned
environmentalists, scientists, climate change experts and indigenous
groups will meet on October 3 in London to create a roadmap for
pioneering, country-led solutions to climate change.
The event, convened by the Commonwealth and its implementation partner
on regenerative development, the Cloudburst Foundation, will officially
launch Common Earth - an international consortium aimed at collectively
creating and harnessing strategies to restore the damage caused by
climate change and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has described the meeting as a
critical collaboration at a critical time, giving experts from a range
of disciplines and sectors the opportunity to bring their perspective to
climate change solutions.
She said: “The global outcry for action on climate change has never been
louder. In David Attenborough’s words, the ‘penny is starting to drop’
and millions are waking up to the reality that, without action, we are
careering towards destruction.
“The sombre predictions of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
report of drowned metropolises, melting mountain glaciers and super
storms seem far too imminent, as hurricanes, cyclones, floods and
drought continue to break records, both in terms of intensity and
frequency.
“Yet, the report is also hopeful, providing ‘evidence of the benefits of
combining scientific with local and indigenous knowledge to develop
suitable options to manage climate change risks and enhance
resilience’.”
The Secretary-General added that the Commonwealth has made climate
action a priority and is looking at solutions from every possible angle.
She said: “Our Commonwealth Blue Charter programme is focused on
empowering our countries to take action against the scourge of plastic
pollution, to build resilience in their coastal ecosystems against the
impacts of climate change and to ensure its marine resources are used in
ways consistent with a sustainable future.
“We are also helping small and vulnerable countries access millions for
climate action; and now we are looking at how we connect and scale-up
existing innovations, many led by indigenous communities, that have
already proven to be highly effective in restoring some of the damage
caused by climate change.”
The two-day conference will launch the road-mapping process with
projects in Auckland, New Zealand; the Kalinago in Dominica; the
Kiribati's Bring PIPA Home initiative, as well as new initiatives in
Belize, Costa Rica, and Zambia.
Participants will discuss the launch of Common Earth’s working groups to tackle cross-cutting issues. These include:
the 'Commonwealth Small State, Climate Change Blue-Green Trade Working Group';
the 'Gender and Climate Change Working Group';
the 'Indigenous Affairs Working Group';
Building on the Commonwealth’s ongoing regenerative development
initiative, the conference will look at why strategies which are based
on preserving living systems and tailored to specific locations are most
effective in addressing climate change; and how to create partnerships
that can harness, accelerate and scale-up their impacts.
“Human genius has enabled us to travel to the moon, it has miniaturised
vast libraries of information onto devices that fit into the palm of our
hand, and brought medical advances that add years to our life
expectancy,” Secretary-General Scotland said. “We need that same genius
to find solutions to climate change. Science can build on the ancient
wisdom of indigenous communities and diverse cultural inheritances
towards sustainable ways of drawing on natural resources without
destroying the harmony and balance of the ocean and our common earth.”
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