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 transcript of the speech delivered by the Vice Mayor of Genoa, Massimo Nicolo.
First of all, let me thank you for your kind invitation, and I’m proud and pleased and honoured to be here in Marseille, representing the City of Genoa.
Genoa is one of the most important cities in Italy and the Mediterranean, and we are proud to be here as a part of this very important event that every four years brings the world’s attention to one of the most vital issues for the future of our children and our planet, the preservation of nature.
Environmental protection is not just a moral duty, but an imperative needed to ensure the survival of mankind, and the world, as we know it. The catastrophic events that have hit Europe in recent months, like the extreme rainstorms, or the spreading of wildfires are telling us that there is no more time to waste, we need to act now and fight global warming together.
Economies, as the Italian Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani, underlined during the G20 on Environment in Naples, must operate within precise, environmental, and social limits. Research, innovation and technology offer solutions against climate change and the loss of biodiversity, as well as promote sustainable and circular use of resources.
COVID-19 has made us understand that by joining forces, all together, we can do great things. Genoa in its own small big way is making its contribution to the change of paradigm that places the entire environment, and therefore the human being at the heart of the matter, because the quality of life of our citizens, depends on nature conservation. Genoa’s economy depends on its port, and it is exactly the port that is preparing to become a green port through investment for recycling, the use of renewable energies, and the electrification of docks.
Goods are shipped from the port of Genoa towards Northern Italy and Central Europe. In connection to these, I would like to mention an important project, intended to make cargo shipping more sustainable by shifting the transport from road to rail. The Third Railway Pass. Essential to connecting Genoa to Milan, Switzerland, and Europe, in a faster and environmentally sustainable way.
To this end, Genoa will have a new public transportation system by 2025. It will be an entirely electric system that will allow fast and sustainable mobility. But Genoa is above all a seaside city that has precisely built its fortune and its millennial history on the sea. This year, Genoa hosted the last part of the Ocean Race, Europe. The great international Regatta and the related number of activities and events organized especially for young people designed to raise awareness on the issues of the ocean have and climate neutrality. Genoa, like other important smart cities in Europe and the world, can and must act in order to protect nature.
Last but not least, gender is now celebrating just in these days, Genova Jeans – the first exhibition in the world dedicated to consumers and businesses that looks to a sustainable future in the place to which jeans owes its name. Blue jeans mean bleu de Genes – that is blue of Genova where this innovative tissue was born, and for the first time was worn by the Genovese.
Genova Jeans is not just an exhibition about an opportunity to put Genoa at the forefront of global research into textile technologies with low environmental impact. The IUCN Congress represents a fundamental step in understanding how far we have come in elaborating that model of sustainable development that requires the collaboration of everyone for creating a greener, safer, and more inclusive planet and I’m convinced that all together we can do it. We have to do it because there is no Planet B.
Thank you for your attention.