Living Lands Charter:
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).
- 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 23rd 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.
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.
