The following guiding questions are aligned to each of the three main Leadership Dialogues planned for the Stockholm+50 meeting and will be integrated into the overall consultation agenda and report. Please refer to the question number in your comment.
LD1: Reflecting on the urgent need for actions to achieve a healthy planet and prosperity of all:
How can we restore and regenerate a positive relationship with nature? List 2 or 3 good practices and pathways that you would like to see scaled up to enable a move to a healthy planet?
What are the actions that you (your group) would take to scale up the change towards a healthy planet? What policies/structures need to be in place for you to take such action?
How could marginalised and vulnerable groups benefit from policies and initiatives designed to restore a more sustainable and resilient relationship with nature (that mitigates nature risks)?
How can we safeguard the rights of people and nature, including among others, indigenous peoples and local communities, environmental defenders, women, youth, future generations?
What are the new or prioritized set of metrics and indicators needed for tracking our progress towards a healthier and more prosperous planet?
Hello! Please share your thoughts below by creating an account and posting a comment - you can think of it a little bit like a facebook comment section. You can respond to and add to other people's comments as well as add your own, once posted, other people can like and respond to yours!
All ideas, thoughts and insights shared in this discussion will be compiled and used in a national report for Samoa. This report will directly feed into discussions and reports being produced at the high level international environmental meeting that is taking place in Sweden in June - Stockholm +50.
We are very much looking forward to following the discussions going forward!
Regarding Question 1 and restoring a healthy relationship with nature we must encourage certain personal behaviours, supported by government policies. Where possible a focus on living locally , using local produce, caring for our local habitat must be encouraged. Growing food locally and living with less. The richness in life us when we work together.
Regarding question 2, if we had freesource ecological house design plans where governments could house populations quickly and simply with the least infrastructure possible this might help stabilize communities and drive simpler more cohesive lifestyles. We can all live more simply and on less.
Regarding the metrics used to track s healthier environment temperature measurements and water supply are what we all look to peace and the absence of war is the biggest metric. Nothing positive can happen when war dominates.
Question 3 and 4: It is important that persons with disabilities are consulted and included in policies and structures relating to climate change adaption and disaster risk management. Commitment requires strengthening at global, regional, national and community levels on ensuring that the needs of persons with disabilities are considered, so that they are not left behind as the world experiences an increase in disaster risk. CRPD and IASC guidelines integrated throughout efforts will help strengthen this. Further, continuing to prioritize the voices of persons with disabilities to learn from their lived experiences, perspectives and identified needs will ensure inclusive and accessible efforts towards mitigating nature risks.
Question 2 : What are the actions that you (your group) would take to scale up the change towards a healthy planet? What policies/structures need to be in place for you to take such action?
Local Level (village level):
Initiate and encourage the active engagement and participation of my village's youth in environment-related campaigns such as plastic clean up, tree/mangrove re-planting, coral replanting (Note : Coastal/Beach plastic clean-up is one of my voluntary contribution and initiative ongoing in the village at the moment, that I am hoping others will join very soon. It is a matter of changing mindsets)
Promote healthy eating and active living by supporting community gardens.
Encourage village mayor/men to re – establish our marine conservation area that was previously funded by UNDP.
Encourage women and men to consider the sustainable harvest of resources for subsistence living such as fishing and logging instead of over-exploitation
National Level;
Participate in existing national youth groups' campaigns and advocate for inclusive actions to address the climate crisis
Structures:
In terms of structure, I would prefer both “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches to sustainability, environmental actions and the development of environmental policies to compliment each other rather than contradicting. Top-down allows policies to drive behavioural change. For instance, banning of the use of single use plastics whether local people like it or not. Whereas bottom-up approach allows actions by local people to influence the development of new policies and laws.
Policies
There is an existing policy (an Act) in Samoa on the banning of plastics, however it’s not well enforced nation-wide even at the village level. The enforcement of this policy needs to be strengthened.
Question 5 : What are the new or prioritized set of metrics and indicators needed for tracking our progress towards a healthier and more prosperous planet?
Tracking progress towards a healthier and prosperous planet is complex and definitely requires a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the environment. In fact, it is still a work in progress for most countries in the Pacific region, through their reporting obligations to various MEAs such as CBD/Aichi, SDGs that are lagging …..For Samoa when it comes to the Climate theme of the environment, some of the indicators (not new) but are prioritized and need serious attention are;
Trend in consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS). A desired outcome for this indicator would be a negative trend in annual ODS imports and consumption. Tracking action and the commitment to stop the release of ODS would help to improve the health of our atmosphere and protection of our people and wildlife from harmful effects of ODS.
Positive trends of funding for ecosystem-based approach to adaption could be another indicator.
When it comes to conservation efforts, indicators could be;
% of land and marine areas formally protected for conservation. Samoa is doing an amazing job on this. Our progress towards a healthier and more prosperous planet would be also reflected in more areas of both land and sea in Samoa established to well protect ecosystems from unsustainable harvesting.
% of plastic in waste audits. In a country where plastic/marine litter is still a problem, a declining trend in plastics in waste audit would be a good indicator of our contribution to a healthier planet. Reducing plastic consumption can create safer, healthier environments for communities and marine.
As mentioned, tracking is still a work in progress. So the percentage of SDG/Aichi targets achieved and other MEA reporting requirements met on time by Samoa could be an indicator itself.
Question 4 : How can we safeguard the rights of people and nature, including among others, indigenous peoples and local communities, environmental defenders, women, youth, future generations?
The link between the Samoan culture and environment is obvious and clear. There are customs and practices that reflect the main contribution of local communities in villages in preserving lands and natural resources for use by future generation. One way to further strengthen and safeguard the rights of all groups is to fully recognize the role of traditional knowledge (TK) in resource management process as well as decision making. Two – it is important to maximize the active participation of local communities, women, youth, people with disability not only in consultation but also the promotion of environmental protection and remember that “diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard”. Their contribution, their perspectives, shared experiences matter. Three – funding connected to projects that specifically safeguard lands and resources under the care of indigenous people should be available and easily accessible.
Comments (6)
Hello! Please share your thoughts below by creating an account and posting a comment - you can think of it a little bit like a facebook comment section. You can respond to and add to other people's comments as well as add your own, once posted, other people can like and respond to yours!
All ideas, thoughts and insights shared in this discussion will be compiled and used in a national report for Samoa. This report will directly feed into discussions and reports being produced at the high level international environmental meeting that is taking place in Sweden in June - Stockholm +50.
We are very much looking forward to following the discussions going forward!
Regarding Question 1 and restoring a healthy relationship with nature we must encourage certain personal behaviours, supported by government policies. Where possible a focus on living locally , using local produce, caring for our local habitat must be encouraged. Growing food locally and living with less. The richness in life us when we work together.
Regarding question 2, if we had freesource ecological house design plans where governments could house populations quickly and simply with the least infrastructure possible this might help stabilize communities and drive simpler more cohesive lifestyles. We can all live more simply and on less.
Regarding the metrics used to track s healthier environment temperature measurements and water supply are what we all look to peace and the absence of war is the biggest metric. Nothing positive can happen when war dominates.
Question 3 and 4: It is important that persons with disabilities are consulted and included in policies and structures relating to climate change adaption and disaster risk management. Commitment requires strengthening at global, regional, national and community levels on ensuring that the needs of persons with disabilities are considered, so that they are not left behind as the world experiences an increase in disaster risk. CRPD and IASC guidelines integrated throughout efforts will help strengthen this. Further, continuing to prioritize the voices of persons with disabilities to learn from their lived experiences, perspectives and identified needs will ensure inclusive and accessible efforts towards mitigating nature risks.
Question 2 : What are the actions that you (your group) would take to scale up the change towards a healthy planet? What policies/structures need to be in place for you to take such action?
Local Level (village level):
National Level;
Structures:
Policies
Question 5 : What are the new or prioritized set of metrics and indicators needed for tracking our progress towards a healthier and more prosperous planet?
Tracking progress towards a healthier and prosperous planet is complex and definitely requires a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the environment. In fact, it is still a work in progress for most countries in the Pacific region, through their reporting obligations to various MEAs such as CBD/Aichi, SDGs that are lagging …..For Samoa when it comes to the Climate theme of the environment, some of the indicators (not new) but are prioritized and need serious attention are;
When it comes to conservation efforts, indicators could be;
As mentioned, tracking is still a work in progress. So the percentage of SDG/Aichi targets achieved and other MEA reporting requirements met on time by Samoa could be an indicator itself.
Question 4 : How can we safeguard the rights of people and nature, including among others, indigenous peoples and local communities, environmental defenders, women, youth, future generations?
The link between the Samoan culture and environment is obvious and clear. There are customs and practices that reflect the main contribution of local communities in villages in preserving lands and natural resources for use by future generation. One way to further strengthen and safeguard the rights of all groups is to fully recognize the role of traditional knowledge (TK) in resource management process as well as decision making. Two – it is important to maximize the active participation of local communities, women, youth, people with disability not only in consultation but also the promotion of environmental protection and remember that “diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard”. Their contribution, their perspectives, shared experiences matter. Three – funding connected to projects that specifically safeguard lands and resources under the care of indigenous people should be available and easily accessible.