Article**: Oceans and Wetlands.
On November 8-10, 2023, the first One Planet - Polar Summit was held at the Musée National d'Histoire Nacional de l'Nature, initiated by France** and organized in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as part of the Paris Peace Forum.
Over the course of two days, more than 700 scientists, experts, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities, explorers from polar and glacial regions, polar operators and civil society met to discuss the urgent protection of ice in the polar regions and glaciers and the adaptation policies needed to face melting ice.
On 9 November, ministers from 17 representative countries also discussed the impact of the cryospheric collapse and the need to strengthen scientific cooperation to gain more knowledge and expectations, presenting a number of cryospheric initiatives to strengthen synergies between projects and research institutions for action on a global scale.
Source: One Planet - Polar Summit).
Source: One Planet - Polar Summit).
On November 10, scientists distributed an updated scientific report on the cryosphere drafted for the summit to enable us to adopt appropriate policies in the event of the collapse of the entire frozen planet. Consensus was reached and the Paris Call for Glaciers and Polar Regions Polar Summit: One Planet Declaration was issued. The contents of the declaration are shared as follows:
Paris calls attention to glaciers and the polar regions The Polar Summit: the "One Planet" declaration
Paris Peace Forum
Paris, November 10, 2023
The consensus was reached in Paris on 10 November during the One Earth Polar Summit, initiated by the French Republic** and organized in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as part of the Paris Peace Forum.
1) We have seen the Scientific Statements (attached to this Appeal) by experts in the study of the cryosphere from all over the world, which is the area on the Earth's surface where water exists in solid form: including large ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, sea ice in the Arctic and Southern Oceans, snow cover, mountain glaciers and permafrost. Covering about 10% of the Earth's surface, these areas are home to indigenous peoples, local peoples and endemic ecosystems, and are among the most affected by the climate crisis and are closely linked to the rest of the planet. The experts met at the National Museum of Natural History on 8-9 November 2023 and highlighted the deterioration of many local, regional and global impacts associated with the shrinking cryosphere. Following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2019 Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in Climate Change, the IPCC 2021 Report ("Physical Science Basis") and the 2022 Report ("Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability"), the updated overview presented by the experts (also annexed to this Declaration).Let us be vigilant about the scale and rate of glacier melting and permafrost thawing, as well as the risks and thresholds for crossing thresholds that increase as global greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow.
2) We note that about 200,000 glaciers are retreating almost irreversibly in Africa, the Americas, Antarctica, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Large-scale ice losses were seen in 2021 and 2022, with an average loss rate 20% higher than in the previous decade. At least half of the glaciers are expected to disappear by 2100. We have recorded that the Arctic surface temperature has warmed four times the global average over the past four decades, while Greenland and Antarctica have also experienced massive ice loss. Ice loss has quadrupled in 30 years, causing global mean sea level to rise at an ever-increasing rate. Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the past 45 years, reaching its minimum in September 2023 and the second-lowest extent of multi-year sea ice since 1985. In February 2023, the Southern Ocean ice reached its lowest value on record, and the loss of sea ice in the Antarctic region increased the risk of emperor penguin breeding failures and other drastic ecological changes. If global harmonization measures are not taken soon, the ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost this century is estimated to be significantly weakened, limiting temperature rise to 1Ability within 5 degrees Celsius.
3) We emphasize that the impacts of climate change on the cryosphere are environmental, economic and social at the local, regional and global levels, and that the main causes are related to activities occurring outside these regions. We are also acutely aware of the accelerated increase in climate change itself and the negative impacts on biodiversity due to the warming of the cryosphere, in particular the thawing of the permafrost.
4) We are aware of the serious consequences and disaster risks of shrinking cryosphere due to global warming: the loss of high-altitude glaciers will have catastrophic consequences for rivers, crops and electricity production, thus affecting the food security of up to 2 billion people, including those in South Asia;Hundreds of millions of people around the world live in areas that are threatened by coastal flooding due to rising sea levels.
5) We are also aware of the negative impacts of climate change and cryosphere melting on ecosystems and biodiversity. Globally, species extinctions associated with climate change are estimated at 2°C and 4 °C at temperaturesAt 3°C, it increases to 16% (IPBES 2019). In polar regions, these impacts include habitat loss, disturbance of migratory species' dietary Xi, changes in distribution, changes in species composition and food chains, and increased risk of invasion of non-native species. In the Arctic, this change is also having a serious impact on the lives of Arctic people, particularly on the livelihoods and food security of indigenous peoples.
6) In the light of these unquestionable and sobering considerations recognized by the international community, we hereby issue a "Paris Call for Attention to Glaciers and the Polar Regions".
We stress that in the face of the three major challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, we have no choice but to cooperate with each other to protect the cryosphere.
We call for an immediate and more in-depth scientific study of the cryosphere, better integration of the effects of cryospheric change in economic policymaking, and greater education on the issues associated with it
Supporting disciplinary and interdisciplinary research on the cryosphere, taking into account local communities and indigenous peoples' awareness;Encourages States and all relevant organizations, such as the European Union, to continue to cooperate in the field of scientific research, to co-fund research, monitoring and conservation programmes for the cryosphere, and to support data sharing so that all countries have access to up-to-date information on the state of the cryosphere and its specific ecosystems;long-term cooperation and full support for ambitious international initiatives for the cryosphere, including the Fifth International Polar Year 2032-33;Support initiatives such as the Ice Memory Project, which aims to store important environmental data preserved in ice by collecting and preserving ice cores from endangered glaciers;Consideration of the United Nations Decade of Science on Glaciers and Polar Cryosphere 2025-2035;Encourage education on polar and glacier issues, with emphasis on the International Year of Glacier Conservation 2025 and World Glacier Day on 21 March each year, and raise public awareness of the importance of glaciers, snow and ice to the climate system and the hydrological cycle, as well as the uniqueness of polar biodiversity and the threats it faces.
We call for the strengthening of existing international forces:
Ensure that the reduction of global average temperature rises below 2°C above pre-industrial levels is accelerated, in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting the increase to 1°C where possiblewithin 5°C and promote best practices;Expeditiously and fully implement the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to achieve all its targets and targets, including, inter alia, that, by 2030, at least 30 per cent of the world's terrestrial and inland waters, as well as coastal and marine areas, are effectively protected and managed;At least 30 per cent of degraded terrestrial and inland waters and marine and coastal ecoregions have been effectively restored;Halting the extinction of known endangered species caused by human activities;Mobilize all resources to increase the allocation of financial resources and mobilize at least $200 billion per year by 2030;States are encouraged to accede to and support the full implementation of the United Nations Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity Beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), adopted in June 2023 and opened for signature on 20 September 2023, with a view to its early entry into force. In particular, we encourage States to work towards the identification of marine protected areas on the high seas and to designate a representative mechanism of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean by States members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources;Promote and seek to apply the highest sustainability standards to all activities that affect glaciers and sea ice, including tourism and approved exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons.
Implement Decision 6 reached at the 45th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Helsinki and initiate a special procedure to develop a comprehensive and coherent framework for the regulation of tourism and non-** activities in order to minimize their impact. Tourism operators who have signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action for Tourism should commit to implementing it over the next decade and taking action to protect the attractionsEstablish a "Coastal Cities and Regional Alliance" through the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), jointly hosted by France and Costa Rica in June 2025. The coalition will unite communities that shelter the vast majority of the planet's population directly affected by sea level rise in 2100. We encourage participants at the 9th Our Ocean Conference in Greece to make ambitious statements on the ocean-climate nexus.
7) We welcome the establishment of the Chile and Iceland High-Level Group "Ice Melting Ambition (AMI): Focus on Sea Level Rise and Mountain Water Resources", which currently has 24 members. We encourage all interested countries to join the high-level group. The Melting Ice Ambition Group holds an annual ministerial meeting during the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP), with the next one to be held during COP28, with the aim of sharing knowledge and pooling international efforts to protect the global cryosphere.
Paris, November 10, 2023
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