While the true purpose of the famous Nazca Lines may never be known, a new tool ensures the full extent of climate actions around the globe can be easily recognized by all.
Today marked “Lima Climate Action” day at the annual climate negotiations. Numerous events sought to grow the upwelling of climate actions already occurring around the world and recognize the need for “all hands on deck” to tackle climate change at a scale and pace commensurate with the challenge.
The centerpiece of the day was a high-level dialogue where global leaders from national and subnational governments, the private sector, and civil society groups discussed specific steps each can take to scale-up action on climate change. The President of Peru urged that “today more than ever, we require political will and action at all levels to combat climate change.”
However, unlike many high-level events all the talk from global leaders was actually backed up by concrete actions in the real world. The President of the negotiations, Peru’s Environment Minister, unveiled a new portal that provides enhanced visibility for the city, company, and regional climate initiatives occurring both individually and cooperatively in action-oriented alliances.
Launch of the new NAZCA portal employing ancient symbols to inspire modern action
The so-called NAZCA portal, named after the famous pre-Incan lines visible from space, showcases a birds-eye view of the constellation of climate actions. As former Vice-President Gore highlighted at the launch, “on the ground you can’t see the full scope, but from the air and space the outlines of the images are crystal clear.”
In all, the portal aggregates over 100 initiatives from some 20,000 actors taking concrete steps to mitigate, adapt, and support action on climate change. The portal allows users to search for initiatives by thematic category, such as energy efficiency, actor, such as cities, and geographic area, such as Latin America. These actions serve to support and complement national climate pledges, and are significant as research has estimated they could close the emissions gap to stay within 2 degrees Celsius temperature rise before 2020 if properly supported.
Snapshot of the NAZCA (Non-state Actor Zone for Climate Action) tool
The new portal is helping illustrate the contours of the greatest alliance the world has ever seen to fight climate change. Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and host of next year’s all-important negotiations in Paris, stressed the need for an “agenda of solutions” as a way to accelerate action before over the next five years. And Minister Tony de Brum, representing the small island nations whose future “hangs at the edge of the sea,” also implored leaders to “mobilize everyone outside the negotiating room.”
As the participants in the emerging Paris alliance surge forward, they are building confidence by demonstrating action which also further catalyzes more action. The new NAZCA tool will help everyone better understand the scale and momentum of actions being taken by cities, regions, private sector and other actors right now.
Be sure to explore the new NAZCA portal and tweet your support for this burgeoning Paris alliance, because we know #WeWill all need to act on climate change.