Highland Council agrees to sign the Edinburgh Declaration on climate change at the inaugural meeting of the climate change committee
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Highland Councillors have agreed that the local authority will sign the Edinburgh Declaration to underline its commitment to tackling the climate and ecological emergency it announced in 2019.
The Edinburgh Declaration sets out the aspirations and commitments of the members of the international community, the Scottish Government, and the Edinburgh Process Partners.
According to the council, Scotland is facing a twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, declining biodiversity exacerbates the climate crisis and vice versa.
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On behalf of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Scottish Government has led a global partnership in the ‘Edinburgh Process.’
It is a consultation with sub-national governments, including regional, city and local authorities on their role in the post 2020 global biodiversity targets.
To date 13 Scottish local authorities plus the two National Park authorities have become signatories alongside other Scottish signatories like NatureScot, the Scottish Land Commission, Cosla and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
The decision to agree to the declaration was made at the inaugural meeting of the climate change committee and will see the council leader Raymond Bremner and chief executive Officer Donna Manson sign on behalf of the local authority.
The chairman of the committee, Cllr Karl Rosie said: “Today’s agreement by members that the council should sign the Edinburgh Declaration reinforces an existing commitment by this local authority to tackle the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.”
“It will also ensure the continued provision of the nature services on which we all depend, the delivery of net zero targets and allow us to tackle and adapt to a changing climate in accordance with the council’s own declaration of a climate and ecological emergency.”
