News OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
Zero Hour’s Nature and Climate Declaration is a new campaign that’s just been launched to draw the attention of politicians at all levels of government to the two greatest threats and challenges of our Age to people and planet: global heating and species extinctions.
We are asking our county councillors to sign the Nature and Climate Declaration, which will demonstrate to residents and fellow councillors across the Island, and throughout the UK, that they support:
1. Limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and
2. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.
Biosphere Reserve
The Island was fairly recently awarded UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status, mainly because of the dedication of some Islanders to protecting and enhancing nature, our landscapes and heritage, and the enjoyment derived by very many residents and visitors from our exceptional biodiversity and beautiful and varied landscapes.
Our landscapes and wildlife habitats face many threats
Yet our landscapes and wildlife habitats face many threats, especially from global heating. Much stronger legislation and enforcement are needed urgently if the UK is to meet these targets, pledged at Paris last November at COP26.
Some of our Island’s coastal areas are already vulnerable to flooding from rivers and the sea. As global temperatures increase, sea levels will rise and storms get stronger and more frequent. We can mitigate catastrophic climate events only if we take swift and decisive action now.
We need to take much stronger climate action
Globally, whole continents will become uninhabitable unless we take much stronger climate action. Millions of displaced people will be forced to migrate to the only surviving habitable lands, including the UK, overwhelming our resources.
We cannot allow this nightmare scenario to become our grandchildren’s reality.
The Nature and Climate Declaration
The Nature and Climate Declaration is a way for political leaders to demonstrate their support for more ambitious nature-climate action ahead of the important UN summits on biodiversity and climate change, COP15 and COP27, taking place this year.
Both of these important objectives have cross-party backing, and we hope for a positive response from the UK Government when this initiative launches in Westminster in May.
Need councillors to add their names to this Declaration
In this crucial year for our planet, we need as many councillors as possible to add their names to this Declaration, in order to demonstrate the strength of cross-party support across all UK nations for tackling climate change and restoring biodiversity.
Please join me in emailing your Isle of Wight councillor (find yours here) and asking them to add their name to this crucial campaign.
You can do so by clicking this link to Zero Hour’s website and using their template, while writing your own personal message in your own words.
Councillors, please sign the Declaration.
Image: Jamie Street under CC BY 2.0
