Commonwealth leaders have formally agreed to the Living Lands Charter: A Commonwealth Call to action on Living Lands (CALL). This charter represents a commitment from all 54 member countries to protect global land resources and collaborate on climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable land management.
This non-binding agreement, announced at the close of the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, is the result of almost two years of discussions and negotiations with member countries, United Nations Rio Conventions, and other involved parties.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General praised the initiative, stating that the Living Lands Charter demonstrates their dedication to the people of the Commonwealth and its principles of transparency, consensus, and collective action.
She emphasized that it embodies their joint effort to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and aims to drive global action on climate change, resilience building, biodiversity loss reduction, and land degradation prevention. She added that their Call to Action on Living Lands intends to advance sustainable land management by assisting the 54 Commonwealth member countries in halting biodiversity loss and desertification, curbing emissions, improving resilience, and promoting sustainable development.
The Living Lands Charter recognizes the interconnectedness of ecosystem vulnerabilities related to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change, emphasizing the need for a collective approach. It aims to strengthen collaboration and coordinated action at national, regional, and global levels, aligning with the three Rio Conventions — 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 all three Rio Conventions have expressed their full support for the charter.
The leaders acknowledged the importance of a principled approach to the Living Lands Charter and active collaboration with various partners. They highlighted the need to exchange knowledge, expertise, success stories, and good practices in sustainable land management while encouraging investment and technological innovation.
They emphasized the crucial role of indigenous peoples and local communities in safeguarding land and vital ecosystem services. They also recognized these communities’ land and resource rights, consistent with national laws and international agreements.
All countries agreed to voluntarily designate a ‘Living Land’ within their borders for future generations, aligning with the Strategy set for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. An implementation plan for the charter will be developed and shared with members.
Source: CHOGM. Commonwealth adopts historic Living Lands Charter.
A separate initiative was introduced on the same day (June 25) to support Commonwealth ocean states in developing and expanding projects that protect the marine environment while addressing climate change.
With 47 of the 54 Commonwealth countries having coastlines – including 25 small island developing states or ‘large ocean states’ – the Commonwealth Blue Charter Project Incubator will help governments create pilot projects. These projects aim to speed up their transition to sustainable and inclusive maritime development and conservation, all while mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Initial funding for this initiative comes from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, along with matching commitments from various partners – currently totaling £400,000, with more expected in the coming year. The incubator, focusing particularly on proof-of-concept and smaller-scale projects, will be managed by the Commonwealth Secretariat in close coordination with member countries and Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Groups.
The project aims to address the global lack of financial support for ocean action, noting that Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life under water) receives the least funding globally among all the SDGs. This issue disproportionately affects small island and coastal states, where funding options are even more limited, especially for marginalized groups like women, youth, indigenous peoples, and local communities.
The Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General stressed that Commonwealth member nations are responsible for over a third of the global ocean within national jurisdictions, highlighting the significance of their role, especially for island states with more ocean area than land.
He emphasized the interconnectedness highlighted by the pandemic, demonstrating that collaborative, multilateral action is crucial for tackling global ocean challenges. He concluded that their efforts need to be significantly intensified.
The Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat explained that while the ocean supports billions of lives and livelihoods, climate change, pollution, and unsustainable practices threaten its essential life-support functions. Despite this, the ocean continues to be overlooked in climate financing discussions, with SDG 14 receiving the least funding among all sustainable development goals. To achieve sustainable ocean investments, governments need support to lead projects they deem most necessary within their context. The Blue Charter Project Incubator will uniquely empower governments to develop a pipeline of financially viable projects, directing ocean financing where it’s most needed.
The Ocean Governance Adviser and Blue Charter program lead pointed out that while numerous excellent ocean incubators already exist, none specifically address the needs of governments. The Blue Charter Project Incubator fills this critical gap.
All Commonwealth member countries will have access to the project incubator. Its services include mentoring and technical assistance for governments developing ocean-related pilot projects. These projects should focus on building social, ecological, and climate resilience while encouraging collaboration with non-governmental organizations. The incubator will review proposals, leverage seed funding, and promote sustainability and scalability planning for these initiatives, even at the regional level. It will also provide support through customized tools, including machine learning.
The incubator will prioritize project ideas that are innovative, collaborative, and actively involve women, youth, indigenous peoples, and local communities.
This initiative builds on the Commonwealth Blue Charter’s successful track record of delivering practical solutions. The charter, an agreement among all 54 countries made in 2018, aims to collaboratively address global ocean challenges. It is implemented through 10 action groups led by 16 champion countries.
Over the past four years, over 450 officials from 40 countries have received training in 10 different areas. Members have benefited from 13 online courses and 15 resource toolkits covering various topics like mangrove restoration and blue carbon (carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems).
Furthermore, the Secretariat has published and distributed over 60 case studies highlighting successful practices to Commonwealth member states. An online database with over 200 online training opportunities and another with over 100 marine funding opportunities have been launched.
The Commonwealth Blue Charter’s long-term objective is to expand on its successful capacity-building efforts, supporting small-scale project development that ultimately leads to significant impact. This will be achieved through increased financial support, potentially via a dedicated ‘action fund’.
The Living Lands Charter was released alongside a comprehensive final communiqué from the leaders, covering various topics, including climate change.
In the communiqué, the leaders stressed that the “urgent threat of climate change” worsens existing vulnerabilities and significantly threatens COVID-19 recovery efforts, particularly for developing countries, least developed countries, and small island developing states, whose developmental gains are at risk of being reversed.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment under the Paris Agreement to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to strive for limiting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius, aligning with the Glasgow Climate Pact.
They acknowledged that achieving this requires “rapid, substantial, and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.” This includes cutting global carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels and reaching net-zero around mid-century, alongside significant reductions in other greenhouse gases. They also recognized that increased support for developing countries will enable them to be more ambitious in their actions.
The leaders expressed deep regret that the goal set by developed countries to collectively mobilize US$100 billion per year by 2020 had not been met. They urged developed countries to fully deliver on the US$100 billion goal urgently and through to 2025, emphasizing transparency in fulfilling their pledges. They welcomed the increased pledges made so far, including those through the Climate Finance Delivery Plan: Meeting the US$100 Billion Goal.
The leaders acknowledged the role of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub in assisting developing countries in enhancing their capacity to secure climate finance for amplified climate action. This includes support through the development of viable projects, robust climate policies, and other assistance.