The IUCN Local Action Summit took place on 3 September 2021—the opening day of the IUCN World Conservation Congress—in Marseille, France. Leaders convened to showcase and galvanise conservation efforts in cities and regions, make the case for a nature-based recovery to COVID-19, and announce ambitious action pledges for nature. Here follows a translated transcript of the speech delivered by Michèle Rubirola, Deputy Mayor of Marseille.
Good afternoon, everybody. May I begin by saying is that I’m very happy that this Congress could finally take place and that it’s being held here in Marseille, and I trust that all of you have had or will have the opportunity to see the great wealth of this city. And I’m very happy that a Local Action Summit has been part of this because I think in the times that we’re now going through, local authorities have a role in the conservation and restoration of biodiversity and trying to deal with the multiple crises that we now face.
No one will be unaware of the fact that we have a major problem: we have a health crisis, we have a climate crisis, we have a social crisis, and also a biodiversity crisis. They all come together, they are all linked by cause and effect, and therefore it’s up to those who take political decisions to fight them with determination. Indeed, this IUCN Congress should allow us to look again at biodiversity and to see how we can marry this with the social and environmental crises that we face.
I’m not going to talk about our degradation of ecosystems or the impact that we’ve had on natural habitats. What I would like to do now is to say, no one can look at the evidence and not be worried – we all feel powerless here when we see that we’re losing a plant and animal species and we must understand what is happening with extreme weather events – we have seen that many of these. I’m not going to dwell on that. What I would like to do is to bring you a message of optimism and solutions: how we can shoulder our responsibilities here.
Towns are vital in this effort. They are vital because of the solutions that they can provide. First, they are interfaces. Urban development has to be done in a manner that establishes natural systems and allows for the forging of links between humans and nature. It is in the towns and cities where we can see what is causing degradation, and we can see in the town how this affects people, and of course, we see this close to cities.
Recently, the lockdown has shown that populations need to have links to nature. And we have seen several services that were provided by nature to people, not only just to make our lives more comfortable, but also make improve liveability on Earth: it makes the Earth more liveable.
Therefore, we have seen that we need nature in towns. We need to green spaces so that we can do something about pollution and counter the effects of global warming. We have seen that local authorities are often, for various reasons, more ambitious than national governments. Sometimes when states fail, towns and cities can succeed. Local government has more latitude to act: to try to bring back biodiversity and fight to protect it, contributing to international efforts.
Well, I would like of course to talk about my own city, Marseille. It is a city of exceptional natural heritage. Basically, what we’re trying to do is reconcile urban and natural areas, as elsewhere in France. We have a great greenbelt around the city.
The Parc des Calanques, which I would suggest you visit, is the only national park in Europe that is continental, marine and peri-urban. And here in Marseille, we have a lot of endemic species which are protected but under threat. Despite the great biodiversity that we have at sea and on land, we face several challenges. We are two and half times the size of Paris. Our natural areas can be victims of their own success – sometimes too many people visit them. Our watercourses are polluted. Our coasts have been degraded by overuse. An invasive seaweed has arrived. We have serious air pollution in this town. This is a major issue for us and I can say this as a doctor.
Now, basically, we have put together local teams so that we can deal with these adverse impacts on biodiversity which affect our inhabitants. We must do that. We must come up with solutions. Recognising the environmental and climate emergency, we introduced several measures to meet national, regional and international standards for biodiversity protection. We have a plan for a local system so that we can boost biodiversity, and we have looked at native species, and this has been very much supported by the IUCN French Committee.
Now there are a few parts to this. Firstly, you do an audit to see what the situation is and see what you need to do. Then you define the strategy and objectives that you’re aiming for so that you can conserve the biodiversity. Then you implement this at an operational level, building on partnerships, and involving volunteers as part of inclusive governance.
We are doing this so we can bring people together to discuss this and we bring in various players of the area. We now have a system in place which means we can bring together the services which are affected and we do this in a cross-cutting manner. We also bring in local organisations. Indeed, we cannot make the changes we need unless we involve citizens. We must ensure that the social and environmental issues, and also the brand of Marseille are all at play here.
We would like to take particular actions here. Let’s bear in mind, we have 2,600 acres of public space. What we’re trying to do?
We’re looking at the artificial reef which has been established 10 years ago. If you can go and dive there, do it, you’ll see some wonderful things. With regards to environmental education, we have visitor farms for children to visit. We also have an opportunity for people to see agriculture. At Parc de Calanques, we are trying to protect the species there. We are working with the forest department, nationally as well, to protect our forest areas. We are working to green our streets. Basically, we’re supporting biodiversity and working with partners to do so, particularly those who are part of our strategy.
We also have certain subsidies that are available. We provide support and land where we can take action and implement experimental projects. For example, we’re making islands a part of international cooperation so that we can support small Mediterranean islands for sustainable management. We’re also looking at marine sciences. Here we have the Parc de Calanques as well. And what we’re working here is to make sure that we can provide research, experiments, so that we can make the most of these areas, protect them and provide education. And we’re also looking at the waterfall in the north of the city. You’ve probably heard about it. Also, there is the forest in the Massif de l’Etoile where we’re running a clean air project – something where we’re building on biodiversity. We have a partnership where we’re looking at urban wastelands as well.
We are working now on land and sea resources. The IUCN French National has given us its support and it sees this as something which is promoting biodiversity. So, we have an ambitious roadmap, and we look forward to getting support from all the players, because not only do we have to come up with these plans, but we need support for these plans, and they need funding as well. Economists feel that we need to invest a billion to protect nature.
Looking at stepping up our cooperation, this city wants to bring in these policies. Looking at the Mediterranean, the crossroads of the world, we want to get towns and cities to work together, we want companies and countries to work together, we want territories to work together. I’m in charge of our international relations here. It is interesting to see the various projects that we’re involved in outside of France. That gives us hope and I think all of us see that spark of hope. Now we’re bringing structures to these are very important questions.
This is a world where for a long time there was no real vision or real idea, no collective engagement and yet here we see the opposite. A lot of people might stand in the way of this—there might be people pushing back—but I believe that this is something very powerful and I think that this will bring in most countries, towns and cities as quickly as possible.