3. A new perspective on the journey to net zero (subtitles)
00:17
As a girl, I walked along the shores of Lake Chad,
00:20
one of the largest lakes in Africa.
00:23
It went on forever,
00:24
touching four countries: Chad, Niger,
00:27
Cameroon and my own country, Nigeria.
00:31
It seemed like an ocean to me at the time,
00:33
with 30 million people relying on its bounty.
00:37
Sadly, today, as you fly over Lake Chad,
00:39
you won't see much.
00:41
It's a fraction of its original size.
00:44
Ninety percent of this fresh water basin has dried up,
00:48
and with it, millions and millions of livelihoods,
00:51
farmers, fisherfolk and our market women.
00:55
Climate change takes yet another victim.
00:58
Now, add another extreme weather event
01:01
the Harmattan.
01:02
What was once a short three-month season of dust and wind,
01:06
one farmer told me the dust storms are coming earlier and bigger every year.
01:10
A single storm can wipe out an entire year's crop overnight.
01:16
The human and ecological cost?
01:18
More jobs lost.
01:20
Hunger.
01:21
Families displaced.
01:22
A perfect storm for crushing poverty.
01:25
And even more, sadly, violence.
01:28
And so it may be a challenge to grow food today
01:31
in the Lake Chad basin,
01:33
but it has also become a fertile ground for extremists to take root,
01:37
wreaking havoc on peace.
01:40
Sadly, touch down anywhere in the world,
01:43
and you'll hear more tragic stories of climate devastation.
01:48
Droughts.
01:49
Floods, wildfires.
01:51
Lives and livelihoods in jeopardy,
01:53
tipping towards catastrophe.
01:56
And yet, despite it all,
01:58
I still have hope in our human family.
02:01
And you might ask why.
02:04
It's our capacity for human endeavor to survive against all odds.
02:09
One that created the extraordinary promise of the UN Paris Agreement
02:13
and its power to drive the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
02:17
for people and for planet.
02:20
We know that the promise of Paris aims to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees
02:25
to ensure that we survive as a human family.
02:29
To get there, we know exactly what we must do.
02:32
We must decarbonise the global economy by 2050
02:35
by way of halving the emissions in this decade.
02:39
We must make coal history,
02:42
with coal phased out in rich countries by 2030
02:45
and in other countries by 2040.
02:49
The G20 produces 80 percent of all greenhouse gas pollution,
02:54
and so they too must,
02:56
these 20 global leaders,
02:58
take responsibility and lead.
03:02
We must stop spending trillions subsidizing fossil fuels,
03:06
clogging the lungs of our people
03:08
and destroying forests and oceans.
03:11
And we must provide the resources that are needed
03:13
for a just green and blue transition.
03:17
We know that these are all essential ingredients
03:19
to fulfill the Paris Agreement.
03:22
Now, try to re-imagine with me
03:24
what this journey to net-zero emissions could look like
03:28
through another lens.
03:30
One that puts our focus on investing in people to reach their potentials
03:34
while protecting our home, planet Earth.
03:38
Decarbonization, a powerful vehicle for climate action
03:42
but also for delivering on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
03:47
Let me give you an example of what this looks like.
03:50
The Great Green Wall,
03:51
an idea born in Africa over a decade ago at the edge of the Sahara.
03:56
It aims to stop desertification
03:58
and restore 100 million hectares of degraded lands
04:02
from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
04:06
It's an ambitious plan to plant 100 million trees,
04:10
improve water harvesting and the use of land.
04:13
Clearly, the climate benefits will be enormous,
04:16
but it's about much more than keeping dust in the desert.
04:19
It's about creating a green economic corridor
04:23
for more than half a billion people.
04:26
Men, women, children.
04:28
One that builds local value chains,
04:31
strengthens economies and fosters a young, fast-growing workforce.
04:37
And as an economic opportunity grows,
04:39
hope for the future becomes a reality in millions of lives.
04:43
And the space for terrorism, extremism, recedes.
04:48
The Great Green Wall inspires me because it is a journey
04:51
of the human potential.
04:53
Potential to amplify the deep knowledge of indigenous people
04:57
who survive and thrive in harmony with nature.
05:00
Potential to harness technology,
05:02
to connect and to bridge the renewable energy divide,
05:06
especially for women and for girls.
05:09
The potential to transform food systems
05:11
in ways which make people and planet healthier.
05:15
So what's holding us back?
05:17
What will it take for this potential to become a shared, lived reality?
05:22
It would be easy for me to say money.
05:25
So let me say it.
05:26
Money, more money.
05:28
(Laughter)
05:29
It's a big part of the solution.
05:31
We need to make good now on the handshake
05:34
that we had at Paris of 100 billion dollars.
05:38
And that was promised annually.
05:40
Rich countries,
05:42
let me say here and now,
05:43
we are looking at you for the unfinished business.
05:47
You must step up, and you must do it urgently.
05:50
The other ingredient we need is solidarity.
05:52
Sometimes that seems to be in fairly short supply.
05:55
But we do know it exists.
05:56
After all, it's solidarity that forged the Paris Agreement.
05:59
It's solidarity that got us the Montreal Protocol.
06:03
And there you see that the ozone layer is saved and our world is healing.
06:08
But we need to rekindle that spirit and we need to do that now.
06:11
It's not too late,
06:13
but the window of opportunity is closing.
06:15
Which brings me back to you.
06:18
You're the reason that I have hope.
06:20
Time and time again,
06:21
we've seen that when people raise their voices,
06:24
that chorus becomes too urgent
06:26
and too loud for leaders to ignore.
06:29
That chorus for bold climate action is growing,
06:32
but it's in fits and starts.
06:34
Climate change doesn't pause, and neither must we.
06:38
Now, last I checked, every single person in this room
06:41
and all those watching online,
06:43
teachers, presidents, shareholders, chief executives,
06:47
scientists, employees, mums and dads,
06:49
everyone on Earth is a citizen on this planet.
06:53
So now's the time to stand up.
06:55
With the courage of your convictions,
06:57
raise your voices yet again
07:00
and demand our leaders to take action
07:02
on the promise of a 1.5 degree world.
07:05
Friends, it's time to make some serious noise
07:09
to transform our world.
07:11
Right now, there's another young girl,
07:14
maybe it's Kolu, maybe it's Aisha, maybe it's Fatima,
07:17
walking on the shores of Lake Chad.
07:19
She's looking out and wondering what her future may hold.
07:24
Will it be an ocean of opportunity?
07:26
It could be.
07:27
Or will it be a wasteland of dust as far as the eyes can see?
07:31
She's asking that question of all leaders who hold her future in their hands,
07:36
and she's also asking it of all of us here today
07:40
and around the world.
07:41
The time for real action has come.
07:44
The choice is ours.
07:46
Individually, collectively.
07:49
What will you do?
07:51
Thank you.
07:52
(Applause)