Lanzarote will have a United Nations Climate Change Observatory after the Cabildo plenary session approved this Monday a subsidy of 200,000 euros in favor of the United Nations Environment Programme to formalize a collaboration agreement with UNEP and UN-HABITAT.
According to the Island Corporation, five months ago, the president, María Dolores Corujo, formalized before the United Nations the island's interest in having this observatory, since, she said, "Lanzarote has always been a pioneer in climate change, sustainable urban planning and ecological transition thanks to the investments of governments and the innovative work of artists such as César Manrique."
She also recalled that this agreement "is not born in a vacuum" because the Lima action plan determines the Biosphere Reserves as priority sites for observatories for research, monitoring and mitigation of climate change and its adaptation to it." "Lanzarote will be placed on the global map of sustainability," said the top island leader.
The signing of the Cabildo agreement with UN-Habitat and UNEP will seek to cooperate in areas of mutual interest related to the application of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in an integrated manner, especially for the achievement of the SDGs; in particular SDG 13, which foresees taking urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects.
The agreement will also frame specific objectives such as creating in Lanzarote one of the nine Situation Rooms, or Global Climate Change Observatories of the United Nations Program.
For its part, the Climate Change Observatory will be the main transformation and change tool used by the UN Environment Program in its global environmental data strategy, integrating geospatial information, digital libraries, data-driven assessments, environmental forecasts, global environmental monitoring, communications, citizen science and support from UN offices in all different.
These enclaves will also help visualize the progress made in all UN Sustainable Development Goals related to the environment and climate change, and all multilateral environmental agencies.
Finally, the initiative will take the United Nations Environment Program into the digital age and create a global leadership space using the latest and most advanced technologies such as Big Data, geospatial technology, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things in the fight against climate change.
