“We urge you to not neglect the ocean, because without the ocean our fight against the climate crisis would be incomplete and ineffective. We need to come together to protect both land and sea, in a collective manner that will help sustain our planet for the generations to come.”
“By combining local efforts to protect critical habitat with effective co-management for coastal fisheries, we can ensure food security, support the productive economy, safeguard livelihoods, and contribute to achieving national and global sustainable development and climate change goals,” says Rocky Sanchez Tirona is the Managing Director of Fish Forever at Rare.
“There are some difficult, but critically important changes that can happen only with your leadership. The most critical of these is stopping harmful agricultural subsidies, which do not work for the farmer, society at large, nor our Mother Earth,” Farmer & CEO, European Carbon Farmers, Mateusz Ciasnocha’s letter to world leaders.
“Many little children can no longer play outside as they would have some years back. The warming climate is shifting weather patterns in Zambia creating stronger and more frequent storms. In some months, the heat is unbearable” – Prudence Muchinouta’s letter to leaders.
“We will all be watching to see what you will do to promote life, or whether you will promote death and destruction” – founder and exectuive director of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, Catherine Coleman Flower’s letter to world leaders.
“At COP26, we ask you to speak out for the ocean as it has no spokesperson, no government, no pavilion or voice. Without a healthy ocean, we cannot hope to combat climate change. The two are fundamentally interlinked, it would be as if to ride a bike without wheels, or sail a boat without canvas. It just will not work.”
“The world’s leaders should spell out in advance of the COP, what they intend to do to ensure that voices of the most vulnerable are heard — and listened to”, Jim Wallace (Lord Wallace of Tankerness) is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
“The only thing that is missing is the will. The will to step forward and do what needs to be done. You may feel it is difficult, but this is no time for cowardice” – a former military intelligence officer’s contribution to Our World in Your Hands.
“In 2009, I was in my first semester in college when typhoon Ketsana struck the Philippines and nearly took my life. Many would look at supertyphoon Haiyan in 2013 as the turning point for climate action in my country,” climate campaigner from the Philippines, John Leo Algo’s letter to leaders.
There is a huge opportunity to better harness ocean resources in a responsible manner to provide nutritious, safe and nature-positive food, explains Sophie Ryan, CEO of the Global Salmon Initiative.
We need a new generation of financial backers from institutional investors to family offices, and from banks to insurers to put capital to work in the ocean, write Chip Cunliffe and Karen Sack, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance.
2030, nearly 40% of the world’s population will live in vulnerable housing. Disasters are increasing in frequency due to the impacts of climate change, and those living in lower income countries feel the consequences of climate change the greatest. CEO of Build Change, Elizabeth Hausler’s letter to world leaders.
“She’s shouting. Howling at you! And so am I, so are all of us. That you presume to represent” – activist, author and founder of Planetari, Cindy Forde’s contribution to the Our World in Your Hands project.
“I’m not certain how much the natural world will have changed but I am certain that my children or grandchildren will ask me, who did this?” Kenyan climate activist, Elizabeth Wathuti’s letter to world leaders.
“To the leaders of the developing countries, including my own, I would like to say: be bold! Show to the world your vision of how you want to transform your communities in order to survive AND thrive post-pandemic and amid continuous and exacerbated climate threats” — Vladislav Kaim, UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisor on Climate Change.
“Please, reach into your dreams. Into a future that can be. And draw what you see.” – Peggy Liu, Chair of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE).
“Africa for years has been experiencing the impacts of climate change and these are becoming more and more catastrophic. It has been our past, it is our present and might become our future if we don’t Act Now.” Ugandan Climate Activist, Evelyn Acham’s submission to the Our World in Your Hands project.
Mbaarak Abdalla from Mombasa County, Kenya, explains in his letter for Our World in Your Hands, why he is on a mission to restore and safeguard the mangroves.
