By Enrico Mayrhofer - 15th December 2008
What do the regions of Taymyr in Russian Siberia and Rabat in Morocco have in common? What advice can the governor of São Paolo give to the governor of Tuscany? How might African regions from Senegal cooperate with their counterparts in Indonesia?
A recent event hosted by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in Saint-Malo, France, tried to answer some of these questions. The world summit of regions on climate change on 29 and 30 October gave regions from all over the world the chance to make their voices heard on a topic mainly managed at the national level.
The summit was organised in association with the six-month French presidency of the EU, the European commission, the Committee of the Regions and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Over 600 delegates representing 98 regions and 59 countries expressed their concerns about climate change and exchanged best practice from one continent to another in order to face some of the challenges posed by climate change and discuss the efforts being made to reduce its effects.
One of the keynote speakers was Danuta Hübner, EU commissioner in charge of regional policy. In a video message that underlined the EU’s leadership in the fight against global warming, she said, “Regions are on the front line in the combat against climate change; maybe they need to be better coordinated but they have to make their voice heard in order to feed the discussion with their direct experiences and best practices.”
Cécile Molinier, director of UNDP for Europe, also recalled that regions represent an essential tier with regard to good governance. “The EU has a pioneering approach in terms of regional policy. However, for one year, regions have been officially in contact with the highest instances of the United Nations. We work with associations in order that they can influence the intergovernmental negotiations,” she said.
“Regions’ and the UN’s objectives and worries are the same, and working together is more profitable than working alone or in a parallel way.”
The current financial situation – and its possible impact on efforts to address global warming – was also debated by many participants.
Indeed, for regional governors such as Claudio Martini, president of the Tuscany region and of the CPMR, climate change and the financial situation are “the results of the model of development in which western society has been living for more then 50 years”. Martini also denounced national governments, like his own in Italy, which, he believes have put Kyoto on the back burner to save the economy.
“There is no contradiction between defending economic interests and defending the interests of the planet. On the contrary, we should start from defending these interests to relaunch the economy. Renewable energies, innovation, research, must be tools to create jobs and growth, not only in Europe but everywhere.”
