▷ UK Overseas Territories – The Climate Promise

05.11.2021 – 23:00

UK Overseas Territories

London (@ots/PRNewswire)

We, the Governments of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories, are custodians of habitats of international importance stretching across the globe from Antarctica to the Caribbean, from the South Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Together with the UK, we have the fifth largest marine area in the world, more than 90% of the UK’s biodiversity, and we are an essential part of the UK to fulfill its pledge to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Climate change will have profound impacts on Our environment, our economy, our society, and if we do not act it will affect not only us but our children and all future generations as well. To overcome the climate crisis our societies face, we need to strengthen global solidarity and coordinate our actions.

As coastal and island communities, our economies depend on maintaining a healthy and sustainable marine and land environment. We are committed to taking measures to protect our fishery resources and to conserve and, where possible, restore marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Building on the good work that overseas territories have already done, we reaffirm the coalition to take action against the harmful effects of plastic pollution and marine litter, often caused by other countries polluting our coasts.

Our biodiversity on land and sea not only serves our well-being but also contributes to our uniqueness and our nature-based fight against climate change, and is important to whom tourism contributes to our economy the most.

It is imperative that all countries prioritize their actions to prevent a man-made increase in global warming, and jointly commit to developing preventive measures to ensure that the surface temperature does not rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

We as individual territories pledge to work with the UK Government to develop regional measures that address the specific challenges that climate change poses to each of us in order to use our oceans and natural resources sustainably, for the benefit of present and future generations, and to take action to protect and restore our biodiversity.

As Overseas Territories, we are committed to working with others in a spirit of cooperation to achieve meaningful outcomes at COP26 that will make a tangible difference in addressing the impacts of climate change in our regions.

*Note to editors: The Falkland Islands are currently holding a general election; The Falkland Islands are expected to agree to the pledge after the elections.

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