{"id":6286,"date":"2023-12-12T10:49:44","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T14:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?p=6286"},"modified":"2023-12-12T16:24:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:24:55","slug":"today-halifax-to-consider-signing-the-montreal-pledge-cities-united-in-action-for-biodiversity-12dec2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?p=6286","title":{"rendered":"Today: Halifax to consider signing The Montr\u00e9al Pledge \u2013 Cities United in Action for Biodiversity 12Dec2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> It’s item No 15.1.4 on the Agenda for today<\/a> (Dec 12, 2023)<\/p>\n

Motion:<\/strong>
\nThat Halifax Regional Council:<\/p>\n

1. Suspend the rules of procedure under Schedule 5, the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee Terms of Reference, of Administrative Order One, the Procedures of the Council Administrative Order;<\/p>\n

2. Direct the Mayor to write a letter of support to the City of Montreal for Halifax Regional Municipality to become a signatory of The Montr\u00e9al Pledge.<\/p>\n

View Details<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Extracts:<\/p>\n

As host city to COP15 (Fifteenth meeting of the COP to the CBD), the mayor of Montr\u00e9al issued a challenge to cities across the world to make a commitment to protecting biodiversity, known as The Montr\u00e9al Pledge.\u00a0Specifically, the challenge invites cities to commit to 15 tangible actions towards pursuing and accelerating their efforts to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity in their region. Signatory cities of the Montr\u00e9al Pledge are expected to demonstrate leadership and to act swiftly in order to protect biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Currently, 61 major cities from across the world have already committed to the Montr\u00e9al Pledge, including Paris, France; London, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Boston, USA, among many others. Many Canadian cities have also signed the pledge including Windsor, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario; and, of course, Montr\u00e9al, Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

As of yet, there are no cities in Nova Scotia that are signatories to The Montr\u00e9al Pledge.<\/p>\n

Becoming a Signatory to The Montr\u00e9al Pledge To become a signatory to The Montr\u00e9al Pledge requires either an official letter from the Mayor or the adoption of a city council resolution to this effect. Signatories are asked to commit to the following 15 tangible actions:<\/p>\n

Reducing Threats to Biodiversity<\/strong>
\n1. Integrate biodiversity into territorial and regulatory planning.
\n2. Restore and rehabilitate ecosystems and their connectivity.
\n3. Conserve existing natural environments through protected areas and other effective and equitable measures.
\n4. Ensure the conservation and recovery of vulnerable species, both wild and domestic, and effectively manage their interactions with humans.
\n5. Control or eradicate invasive alien species to eliminate or reduce their impacts.
\n6. Reduce pollution from all sources to levels that do not adversely affect biodiversity, ecosystem functions or human health.
\n7. Aim to eliminate plastic waste.
\n8. Aim to reduce pesticide use by at least two-thirds.
\n9. Contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation measures through ecosystem-based approaches.<\/p>\n

Sharing the Benefits of Biodiversity<\/strong>
\n10. Aim to ensure that urban agriculture, aquaculture and forestry zones are accessible, sustainably managed and contribute to food security.
\n11. Prioritize nature-based solutions to protect against extreme weather events and hazards and to regulate air and water quality.
\n12. Increase the amount of green and blue spaces and improve equitable access to them.<\/p>\n

Solutions, Governance, Management and Education<\/strong>
\n13. Integrate biodiversity into governance frameworks and public policies, and increase financial resources allocated to its conservations and sustainable use.
\n14. Through citizen education and participation, help ensure that people and businesses are encouraged to make responsible choices toward biodiversity and have the resources and knowledge to do so.
\n15. Ensure the equitable and effective participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in decision-making and in the process of knowledge acquisition and transmission.<\/p>\n

After becoming signatories, cities are invited to voluntarily track their progress towards the 15 Pledge commitments by registering and using the \u2018CitiesWithNature\u2019 Action Platform.2 \u2018CitiesWithNature\u2019 is recognized by the CBD in its Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities for Biodiversity (2021-2030)3 as the place where cities should monitor and report on their voluntary commitments.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are 20 participating cities worldwide who are registered on \u2018CitiesWithNature\u2019 Action Platform, compared to the 61 signatories of the Montr\u00e9al Pledge.<\/p>\n

Staff do not intend to register for this platform as it would be redundant to HRM\u2019s current tracking requirements for HalifACT and the Halifax Green Network plan.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Attachment 1 in the Details Document provides a summary of existing HRM initiatives that address one or more of the 15 Montr\u00e9al Pledge commitments.<\/p>\n

The Halifax Green Network Plan figures prominently in that listing. Let’s hope our provincial government is fully supportive!<\/p>\n

UPDATE. Tuesday pm: Motion passed unanimously<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s item No 15.1.4 on the Agenda for today (Dec 12, 2023) Motion: That Halifax Regional Council: 1. Suspend the rules of procedure under Schedule 5, the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee Terms of Reference, of Administrative Order One, the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,15,27,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-conservation","category-halifax-green-network-plan","category-hrm-greenbelt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6286"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6291,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions\/6291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}