New York: Europe and the Arabs
Clearly, Mother Earth is sending us an urgent call to action. Nature is suffering, the oceans are filled with plastic, temperatures are extreme, and there are forest fires and floods, according to what was stated in a post by the United Nations on the X website. He added, “On the International Day of Mother Earth, let us remind ourselves that we need to shift to a more sustainable economy that works for the benefit of people and the planet.”
The United Nations website also published a press statement by Secretary-General Antonio Gerets, which said: “Humanity is behaving like the delinquent child of Mother Earth.”
We depend on nature for the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. However, we have brought chaos to the natural world: poisoning our planet with pollution, annihilating species and ecosystems, and destabilizing our climate through greenhouse gas emissions.
These actions harm nature and harm humanity. We are putting food production at risk, polluting our oceans and air, creating a more dangerous and less stable environment, and hindering sustainable development.
Together, we must restore harmony with nature, embrace sustainable production and consumption, and protect ourselves from harm – creating jobs, reducing poverty, and advancing sustainable development as we do so.
This means halting biodiversity loss, ending pollution, and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. This means supporting indigenous peoples, local communities and others most affected by the pollution, climate and biodiversity crises. Achieving climate justice for countries on the front line of climate chaos means quickly mobilizing the financing and support countries need to act on climate change, protect nature and promote sustainable development.
Countries must develop new national climate plans consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. These plans can be multiplied into national transition plans and national investment plans, supporting sustainable development for future generations. The G20 must lead a rapid, fair and funded global process to phase out fossil fuels, and end nature-destroying subsidies, such as those that ensure the rampant production of plastics that are choking the planet.
Repairing relations with Mother Earth is the mother of all challenges facing humanity. We must act – and act now – to create a better future for all of us.