Why we stand together now
This statement was signed by 386 movements, organisations and individuals, and it was used to demand urgent from world leaders in September 2019.
In 2015 world leaders signed historic agreements – the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the broader 2030 Agenda to push for a more just and sustainable world by 2030. These inter-linked agendas promised to transform the world, to end poverty, to reduce inequality, ensure peace and combat climate change; to set us on a path towards a just transition and a holistic approach to the systems which underpin our economy, society, and environment. So far, delivery has failed to live up to this bold ambition.
Around the world, people are suffering from the overlapping impacts of inequalities, loss of rights, gender injustice, conflict, militarisation, environmental degradation and climate change. The economic, financial and political systems are concentrating power and wealth in the hands of a few, favouring a limited number of individuals, countries and businesses. Nature is our life support system – when it is degraded, polluted and overused there are disastrous impacts for our food security, water supply, air quality and for our economy. Climate change impacts food security, water to irrigate crops and disruption from extreme weather events. Without tackling climate change and loss of biodiversity by protecting and restoring our natural world, we will fail to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
That is why we are standing alongside many others around the world in calling out a state of emergency. Humanity cannot afford to wait, people are demanding transformative change, and we are not willing to accept the current lack of action and ambition from many governments.
We are at a critical turning point – in September 2019, heads of state will meet again to review progress and we demand that they set out a more ambitious roadmap for practical action. This moment has the potential to foster irreversible momentum for greater accountability, enhanced ambition and clear action in the following 10 years to deliver on the promise of a just transition.
In order to deliver this momentum, we are working together across movements and across borders, to push for wider change, amplifying voices of local communities, and sharing the demands for transformational change coming from people from all across the globe.
To ensure that we move towards a just, peaceful and sustainable world by 2030… we stand together with rising movements, such as those led by women and young people for our rights to voice, equality, and climate and environmental justice.
Voice: We call on governments to guarantee the right to freedoms of expression, association and assembly; and to ensure inclusion and participation for all; so that people and community organisations can engage freely in all levels of decision-making processes in an open civic space, without fear of violence or intimidation. We also call on governments to commit to a universal moratorium or reduction of military budgets in order to fund climate and environmental protection and the fight against poverty, hunger and inequality.
Equality: We call on governments to address the multiple dimensions of inequality, deliver on their promise to ‘Leave No One Behind’; and to tackle the root causes of inequality through tax justice and social protection and an end to discrimination against women and girls and the most marginalized communities in every country. We call on all governments, but in particular provider countries, to champion these goals by overhauling their approaches to financing, consistent with both our ambition and agreed development effectiveness principles — to ensure democratic country ownership, a focus on results, inclusivity and mutual accountability.
Environmental & climate justice: We demand that countries honor their commitments by presenting concrete and ambitious plans to protect humanity and human rights; halting biodiversity loss and implementing concrete conservation measures; protection of people and communities at the frontlines of climate change, to build their resilience, support adaptation and address loss and damage; and move towards a just transition to renewables and concerted action to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and to eliminate them altogether by 2050 at the latest; so that we ensure that we limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C degrees.
Promote this statement with the hashtag #StandTogetherNow on social media.
