Local Governments opening speech at COP 15
7 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
We can’t just say “Yes we can!”, the message of local and regional authorities today is “Yes we do”!
On 7 December 2009, Ronan Dantec spoke on behalf of the Local Government and Municipal Authorities at the opening of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative at COP 15 in Copenhagen.
Representing the Local Government Climate Roadmap, Ronan Dantec, Vice-President of Nantes Metropole, stated that "No country will ever meet its own targets, which we hope to be ambitious, without the commitment of the local level."
Since Bali, a number of developing countries and developed countries with greenhouse gas emission reduction targest have increasingly recognized the importance of this role and supported amendments and official submissions asking for partnership between all levels of governance. Unfortunately, numbers of these amendments have disappeared from the texts presented at the end of the Barcelona climate change talks.
Ronan Dantec emphasized that "This is not comprehensible if we want the text being adopted here to give a strong signal for global collective mobilization and active participation of all stake holders. Therefore we ask for your support to add a clear mention of our role in the shared vision and the key chapters on adaptation and mitigation. In respect to the thousand of actions engaged by local and regional authorities everywhere in the World, we can strongly contribute to the global dynamic to preserve humanity from the dangers she is facing."
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