. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .
Article on the facebook page of Herbert Santo de Lima (member of the Culture of Peace Corporation that owns CPNN)
There goes the text:
COP30 is over. And even though I wasn’t in Belem last week, I followed everything from here between the meetings in the Chamber, the conversations about our Master Plan and the routine of the mandate.
Because, at the end of the day, what the world decides outside knocks directly on the doorstep of cities, including São Lourenço.
The feeling is two things: disappointment and, at the same time, a thread of hope.
The sad side first: once again the world has failed to make a clear deal to put a programmed end to fossil fuels. It was the move everyone was expecting, and he didn’t come. Pressure from producing countries blocked the text until the last minute. And that matters to us, yes — because if the global transition slows, cities need to speed ahead in planning, mobility, energy and smart land use.
(Click here for the original in Portuguese)
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Sustainable Development Summits of States, What are the results?
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But there was also a moment that rekindled some light: Colombia refused to accept an empty lockdown. They insisted, pressured and forced the negotiation not to bury the issue. And the president of COP30, Andre Corrêa do Lago, has assumed there, publicly, that he will pull this agenda forward. Didn’t fix it but stayed alive. And in the global climate process, keeping alive is already a lot.
On the plus side, there’s been significant breakthrough in funding for adaptation and how to measure cities’ progress in protecting against extreme events. This helps us right here. Each indicator of these becomes an argument for us to defend stronger policies in the municipality.
And this is where our city, São Lourenço, comes in.
We’re writing the city’s future with the Master Plan. And the global message is simple: those who don’t prepare now will pay dearly later.
So, yeah, all that happened at COP30, I’m taking with me to the next vote and debates:
– protect the green areas we still have,
– think mobility the smart way,
– prepare São Lourenço, for drought and floods,
– take care of water seriously.
– organise soil use with a focus on the climate that has already changed.
COP30 didn’t deliver everything needed. But it delivered enough for us not to give up. The fighting continues — and it’s starting in the cities.
I keep firmly following, studying and bringing to São Lourenço what makes sense to our reality.
The future can’t wait. And neither are we.
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