Perth & Kinross Council Sign Climate Declaration

In December 2021, Perth & Kinross Council became an official signatory to both the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, and the Edinburgh Declaration on post-2020 global biodiversity framework. By joining these initiatives, the Council is committed to taking its responsibilities seriously while working towards its climate objectives outlined in the Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan which was unanimously accepted by the Council on 15 December 2021.

The Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration
A commitment by local and regional governments to tackle the climate emergency through integrated food policies and a call on national governments to act. It brings together all sizes of local authorities to speak with a unified voice in renewing their commitments to develop sustainable food policies, promote mechanisms for joined-up action and call on national governments to put food and farming at the heart of the global response to the climate emergency.

Local authorities that sign the Glasgow Declaration renew their commitment to take a food system approach to the climate emergency and continue to work on adopting and implementing sustainable integrated food policies.

The specific commitments associated with signing the Glasgow Declaration include:

• Developing and implementing integrated food policies and strategies as key tools in the fight against climate change; and ensuring that these instruments adopt ad food systems approach that involves actors across all parts of the food chain; include metrics to assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets from food systems, as well as opportunities for cooperation and best practice sharing between subnational governments.

• Reducing GHG emissions from urban and regional food systems in accordance with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals and building sustainable food systems that are able to rebuild ecosystems and deliver safe, healthy, accessible, affordable, and sustainable diets for all.
• Calling on national governments to establish supportive and enabling policy frameworks and multi-level and multi-actor governance mechanisms, allowing coordinated decision-making on food systems.

The Edinburgh Declaration on post-2020 global biodiversity framework

As part of the development of the Edinburgh Declaration on post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the Scottish Government led the ‘Edinburgh Process’ a collaboration process with regional and local partners. The Edinburgh Declaration sets out the aspirations and commitments of the Scottish Government, as well as the wider local and regional government constituency of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in delivering for nature over the coming decade.

The Edinburgh Declaration commits devolved governments, city councils and other local authorities to continue to build upon our previous efforts, to deliver transformative actions by:

• recognising the overall value of nature and integrating it into subnational, city and local planning, management and governance instruments
• implementing appropriate actions that deliver on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework goals and action targets
• aligning biodiversity strategies and actions, and our monitoring and reporting efforts with National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), within our subnational, city and local competencies
• increasing resource mobilisation for investment in biodiversity action at subnational, city and local levels, and providing incentives to ensure positive outcomes
• mainstreaming biodiversity across public, private, and business sectors to achieve greater environmental, societal, and economic resilience

• communicating, educating, and raising public awareness with specific efforts to make knowledge available in several languages
• strengthening capacity building in order to implement nature-based solutions (NBS) and green and blue infrastructure, particularly through ecosystem-based approaches and as a contribution to a green recovery from COVID-19
• providing opportunities for knowledge exchange across subnational, city and local levels, and between all sectors of society
• sharing best practices across subnational, city and local levels, to efficiently implement transformative actions