Commonwealth leaders have officially adopted the Living Lands Charter: A Commonwealth Call to action on Living Lands (CALL), which commits all 54 member countries to safeguarding global land resources while taking coordinated action on climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable land management.
The non-binding agreement was announced today at the conclusion of the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, along with the final communiqué. It is the culmination of nearly two years of intense consultation, engagement and negotiation with member countries, United Nations Rio Conventions, and other relevant stakeholders.
Applauding the initiative, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, said: “The Living Lands Charter is a testament to our commitment to the people of the Commonwealth, and to the Commonwealth principles of transparency, consensus, and common action.
"It helps to encapsulate our combined effort to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C. It seeks to catalyse the global political momentum for enhancing climate action, building resilience, reducing biodiversity loss, and arresting land degradation.
“Our Call to Action on Living Lands seeks to propel sustainable land management by supporting the 54 Commonwealth member countries to prevent biodiversity loss and desertification while reducing emissions, enhancing resilience and promoting sustainable development.”
The Living Lands Charter recognises that the vulnerabilities of our ecosystems to land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change are closely interrelated and need to be considered collectively. It seeks to strengthen synergies and coordinated action at national, regional and global levels, of relevant actions under the three Rio Conventions — namely, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD); the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Secretariats for the three Rio Conventions have expressed their full support for the charter.
Heads recognised the need of taking a principled approach to the Living Lands Charter and active cooperation with a range of partners to share knowledge, expertise, success stories, and good practices in sustainable land management, while incentivising investment flows and technological innovation.
They also underlined the critical guardianship provided by indigenous peoples and local communities in protecting land and vital ecosystem services, and recognised the land and resource rights of these communities, in accordance with national law and international instruments.
All countries agreed to voluntarily dedicate a ‘Living Land’ in their respective country to the future generations, in line with the Strategy set for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
An implementation plan for the charter will be developed and presented to members.
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Source: CHOGM. Commonwealth adopts historic Living Lands Charter.
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A separate initiative was launched the same day (June 25) to support Commonwealth ocean states in cultivating and scaling up projects that protect the marine environment while also tackling climate change.
With 47 out of 54 Commonwealth countries bordering the sea - including 25 small island developing states or ‘large ocean states’ - the Commonwealth Blue Charter Project Incubator will assist governments in developing pilot projects that accelerate their transition to sustainable and inclusive maritime development and conservation, while mitigating and adapting to climate change.
The initiative is supported by an initial contribution from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, with matching commitments from various partners – currently amounting to £400,000, with more expected in the coming year. Focusing on proof-of-concept and small-scale projects in particular, the incubator will be managed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, in close cooperation with member countries and Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Groups.
The project aims to address the dearth of financial support for ocean action worldwide, with Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life under water) receiving the least funding globally among all the SDGs. Small island and coastal states are particularly affected, with even fewer funding options for typically marginalised groups, including women, youth, indigenous peoples and local communities.
Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Dr Arjoon Suddhoo, said: “Commonwealth member nations are stewards of more than one third of the global ocean within national jurisdictions. Our island states have many times more ocean area than land… The pandemic over the past year has underlined how mutually reliant we all are upon one another. We now know that decisive joined-up, cooperative, multilateral actions are the only way to tackle global ocean challenges. There is no doubt that we need to redouble our efforts.”
Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr Nicholas Hardman-Mountford added: “The ocean sustains the lives and livelihoods of billions on this planet but its core life-support functions are critically threatened by climate change, pollution and unsustainable exploitation. Yet, the ocean continues to be eclipsed in climate financing discussions. SDG 14 is the least funded of any of the sustainable development goals. For ocean investments to be sustainable Governments need to be supported to lead on the projects they know are most needed in their context. The Blue Charter Project Incubator will uniquely enable governments to develop a pipeline of bankable projects to mobilise ocean financing where it is needed the most.”
Ocean Governance Adviser and Blue Charter programme lead, Dr Jeff Ardron noted: “There are many very good ocean incubators out there already, but none address the needs of governments. The Blue Charter Project Incubator fills that critical gap.”
All Commonwealth member countries will have access to the project incubator. Among the many services it offers, the incubator will provide mentoring and technical support to governments on the development of ocean-related pilot projects that build social, ecological and climate resilience, while also facilitating project partnerships with non-governmental entities. It will review proposals, leverage seed funding for projects and encourage planning for sustainability and scaling up initiatives, including at the regional level. Support will also be provided through unique customised tools, including machine learning.
Project ideas that ‘dare to be different’, offering innovative and cooperative solutions, while also engaging women, youth, indigenous peoples and local communities, will receive particular attention.
This new initiative continues the significant track record of practical solutions delivered by the Commonwealth Secretariat under the Commonwealth Blue Charter – an agreement by all 54 countries made in 2018 to work collaboratively to address global ocean challenges. It is implemented by 10 action groups, led by 16 champion countries.
Over the past four years, more than 450 officials from 40 countries have been trained in 10 topic areas. Members have benefited from 13 online learning courses and 15 resource toolkits on various themes, such as mangrove restoration and blue carbon, or carbon sequestered by ocean and coastal systems.
In addition, more than 60 case studies illustrating good and best practices have been published by the Secretariat and shared to Commonwealth member states. An online database of more than 200 online training opportunities, and another database of more than 100 marine funding opportunities have been launched.
The long-term goal of the Commonwealth Blue Charter is to build on its track record of supporting countries through capacity-building, towards small-scale project development and eventually mainstream impact, with enhanced financial support via a potential dedicated ‘action fund’.
The Living Lands Charter was released alongside a final wide-ranging communiqué by leaders, including on specific items on climate change.
In the communiqué, heads underscored that the “urgent threat of climate change” exacerbates existing vulnerabilities and presents a significant threat to COVID-19 recovery efforts. Developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing states were particularly at risk of their development gains being reversed.
Heads renewed their commitment under the Paris Agreement to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, also reflecting the Glasgow Climate Pact.
Leaders recognised that this requires “rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions”, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net-zero around mid-century, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gasses. They further recognised that enhanced support for developing country parties will allow for higher ambition in their actions.
Leaders deeply regretted that the goal of developed country parties to jointly mobilise US$100 billion per year by 2020 had not yet been met. They called on developed countries to fully deliver on the US$100 billion goal urgently and through to 2025 and emphasised the importance of transparency in the implementation of their pledges. They welcomed the increased pledges made to date, including through the Climate Finance Delivery Plan: Meeting the US$100 Billion Goal.
Heads recognised the role of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub in assisting developing country members with human and institutional capacity to mobilise climate finance for enhanced climate action, including through the development of bankable projects and robust climate policies, amongst other support.
