Commonwealth adopts ‘Living Lands Charter’

• 29 Jun 2022

For Prelims: Commonwealth Nations, Living Lands Charter

For Mains: Living Land Charter, Conservation

Why in News?

Recently, the Commonwealth members have agreed to voluntarily dedicate ‘living land’ in their respective countries to future generations, in line with the strategy set for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

• The 'Living land’ charter was announced at the conclusion of the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali (Rwanda).

What is the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration?

• The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration runs from 2021 to 2030.
• Its purpose is to promote the United Nation's environmental goals.
• Specifically, to facilitate global cooperation for the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems.
• It calls for protection and revival of ecosystems across the world.

What is the Living Land Charter?

• The non-binding ‘Living Lands Charter’ mandates that member countries will safeguard global land resources and arrest land degradation while acting against climate change, biodiversity loss and towards sustainable management.
• The Living Lands Charter helps to encapsulate the combined effort to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The charter aims to achieve climate goals through a mixture of policy influence, financing, technical assistance, governance and sharing knowledge across nations.
  • Commonwealth governments have been asked to submit their emission reduction targets by 23^rd September, 2022.
• It is aimed to support member countries to effectively deliver their commitments under the three Rio conventions — UN Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

What are the Highlights of the CHOGM 2022?

• The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations.
• CHOGM2022 was taken place in Rwanda, with theme: ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming.'
• It has raised more than USD 4 billion in pledges for the battle against malaria and other tropical diseases.
• There have been 24 CHOGMs since 1971, with the most recent one taking place in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2018.

What is the Commonwealth?

• It is an international intergovernmental organization of countries that were mostly former territories of the British Empire and dependencies.
• It was established by the London Declaration in 1949.
• Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth.
• Many countries from Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and the Pacific have joined the commonwealth.
• The current membership includes 56 Countries. The membership is based on free and equal voluntary co-operation.
  • The two African countries, Gabon and Togo, were admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations, as its 55^th and 56^th members, respectively, at the CHOGM 2022.
• It is Headquartered in London.

Source: DTE