Leading State and Regional Governments sign key international memorandum for Climate Action in Paris

Minister for Natural Resources, Carl Sargeant has today joined Quebec, Manitoba, Catalonia, Basques and Sao Paulo in founding an historic international Memorandum of Understanding on Nature Based Climate Action during COP21 in Paris.

The Memorandum of Understanding commits signatory Regional and State Governments to ensuring a nature based approach is a key pillar of their climate action.

Carl Sargeant said:

“Climate change cannot be tackled unless our solutions recognise nature’s fundamental role in our climate’s stability.

“Developing this international memorandum builds on our Environment Bill’s focus on climate change and the sustainable management of natural resources.  Like the Bill, it covers areas that are fundamental to our future prosperity and resilience as set out in the Well-being Goals enshrined in our game-changing Well-being of Future Generations Act.

“On Friday Ban Ki-Moon encouraged us as leaders to reach out to others and in that spirit I invite other Governments to join us as signatories.”

The COP21 Summit not only marks a critical moment for increasing action in areas like renewables and energy efficiency, but also a critical moment for action to ensure the health of our ecosystems and the biodiversity within them.  As recognised by the themes of the UN Summit, nature based action in areas like forestry is vital for both climate change mitigation and adaptation.  Failing to invest in our ecosystems will have serious consequences not only for our future prosperity, but also for human life itself.

The Memorandum builds on and complements the key commitments the Welsh Government has made with international partners through the global Compact of States and Regions and the Under 2 MoU.