Notes from the Field- Modern Slavery and Climate Change: The Commitment of the Cities

Synod Hall, Vatican City- July 21, 2015: On one momentous day, “50 Mayors of the most important cities of the world” came together with Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences “to address two interconnected dramatic emergencies: human-induced climate change and social exclusion in the extreme forms of radical poverty, modern slavery and human trafficking.”

Blue Chip’s Jennifer Gross attended this workshop, and she found the experience extremely moving. Says Jennifer: “I began to understand how the concept of sustainable cities in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #11, ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,’ was truly a key to sustainable development in the future. The enthusiasm of the mayors was a breath of fresh air and their excitement generated at the Vatican continues to guide me through the uncertain political climate today. I gained a new respect for mayors and feel that the only way to accomplish true sustainability is city by city. In the future, I feel mayors will be able to accomplish things in a way in which states or nations cannot. It was one of my greatest honors to be a signatory alongside so many upstanding men and women, making a lifelong pledge with them to combat climate change.”

The objective of the workshop was for mayors and local administrators to join religious leaders and law enforcement authorities in a request to the UN to consider modern slavery and human trafficking as a crime against humanity, and to put moral pressure on the UN to make sure that the SDGs, approved by the UN that September, and the Paris December COP-21 Summit both gave enough weight to these two tragic emergencies.

Here is a selection of quotes from participating North American mayors:

Birmingham Mayor, and Human Rights First Ambassador, The Honorable William A. Bell: “Eradicating human trafficking, the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, will require a coordinated effort from faith leaders, business leaders, governments, and law enforcement from around the world. I look forward to this important opportunity to build partnerships with the Vatican and other government leaders to develop solutions to address this horrific human rights problem.”

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh: “I am honored to have the opportunity to represent the City of Boston at the Vatican to discuss the vital issues of human trafficking and protecting our environment. I look forward to joining my peers from around the world to collaborate on how we can prepare our cities for the future.”

Boulder Mayor Matthew Appelbaum: “Boulder is honored to join in discussion with Pope Francis and this group of global cities that have shown leadership through their actions to address the climate crisis. The City of Boulder has long prioritized environmental stewardship and sustainability through partnerships with our federal labs, the University of Colorado, local businesses, non-profits, and our very supportive citizens. Boulder and all local governments have essential roles in developing and implementing policies and technical solutions to mitigate, and adapt to, climate change, and working together to nd innovative and responsible environmental actions that can be adopted globally.”

California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.: “In the spirit of the pope’s encyclical this unprecedented gathering of global leaders is a wake up call to face up to the common threats of climate change and human exploitation. This is about the future of humanity and how we as human beings live and treat one another and the natural world around us.”

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa: “Mayors of cities have the responsibility to ensure the enhancement of social fabric recognizing the close relationship between environmental degradation and poverty. The policies implemented from cities aimed to protect the environment will help the development of vulnerable populations, social harmony, social inclusion and the integrity and safety of all citizens.”

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges: “I am deeply thankful that Pope Francis is tackling issues of such grave importance not only to my city of Minneapolis but to the world. It’s an honor to have been asked to join the upcoming gathering at the Vatican. I look forward to learning how Minneapolis can join hands in global efforts around climate change and ending the factors that contribute to 21st century trade in human beings, and to share the successes we that we as a city have achieved.”

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu: “It is an honor and privilege to join His Holiness Pope Francis as he brings together this group of international leaders for an action-oriented gathering about opportunities and challenges facing local governments. This type of honest, proactive collaboration will help create more peaceful, prosperous and resilient communities around the world.”

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales: “We are going to the Vatican to listen, of course, but also to tell the Portland story: We have made great strides in protecting our environment. Portland was acting on carbon reduction before many cities, states and countries started talking about carbon. I want to hear from the other participants, but I want them to hear our story, too.”

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee: “We must act urgently to combat climate change and end human suffering, and I am honored to join Pope Francis in a global call to action. I am eager to join this historic gathering of national and international leaders, including Governor Jerry Brown, to share how San Francisco has reached and exceeded aggressive climate change goals even while growing the economy and seeing increases in our population. We can and will act locally to make meaningful change globally.”

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray: “Seattle is an innovative leader in sustainability and carbon reduction, but too often the benefits of our progress are not equitably shared. Our most at-risk communities, low-income families, and communities of color are disproportionally impacted by climate change. Seattle is committed to changing this through our Equity and Environment Initiative to ensure strong social justice outcomes in our environmental policy. I’m humbled to have the opportunity to share this experience with global leaders as we heed the Pope’s call for action.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson: “Climate change is the most urgent challenge facing humanity today, and it is a remarkable honor to be invited by Pope Francis to discuss how cities and the global community can and must act in concert to drastically reduce climate pollution. Pope Francis’ leadership will build on the resounding unity of big cities worldwide in calling for meaningful and bin- ding emissions targets, and for a climate agreement signed in Paris that respects the needs of our cities, our planet and the generations to come.” – Pope Francis, Laudato si’

At the conclusion of the workshop, the following declaration was issued:

We the undersigned have assembled at the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences to address two inter- connected dramatic emergencies: human-induced climate change, and social exclusion in the extreme forms of radical poverty, modern slavery and human trafficking. We join together from many cultures and walks of life, reflecting humanity’s shared yearning for peace, happiness, prosperity, justice and environmental sustainability. On the basis of the encyclical Laudato si’, we have considered the over- whelming scientific evidence regarding human-induced climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the vulnerability of the poor to economic, social and environmental disasters.

In the face of the emergencies attributable to human-induced climate change, social exclusion, and extreme poverty, we join together to declare the following:

In this core moral space, cities play a very vital role. All of our cultural traditions uphold the inherent dignity and social responsibility of every individual and the related common good of all humanity. They affirm the beauty, wonder and inherent goodness of the natural world, and appreciate that it is a precious gift entrusted to our common care, making it our moral duty to steward rather than ravage the garden that is our “common home”.

In spite of having a minimal role in the disruption of the climate, the poor and excluded face dire threats from human-induced climate change, including the increased frequency of droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, and rising sea levels.

Today humanity has the technological instruments, the financial resources and the know-how to reverse climate change while also ending extreme poverty, through the application of sustainable development solutions, including the adoption of low-carbon energy systems supported by information and communications technologies.

The financing of sustainable development, including the effective control of human-induced climate change, should be bolstered through new incentives for the transition towards low-carbon and renewable energy, and through the relentless pursuit of peace, which also will enable a shift of public financing from military spending to urgent investments for sustainable development.

Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity.

The world should take note that the climate summit this year (COP21) may be the last effective opportunity to negotiate arrangements that keep human-induced warming below 

2°C, and aim to stay well below 2°C for safety, yet the current trajectory may well reach a devastating 4°C or higher.

Political leaders of all UN member States have a special responsibility to agree at COP21 to a bold climate agreement that confines global warming to a limit safe for humanity, while protecting the poor and the vulnerable from ongoing climate change that gravely endangers their lives. The high-income countries should help to finance the costs of climate-change mitigation in low-income countries as the high-in- come countries have promised to do.

Climate-change mitigation will require a rapid transformation to a world powered by renewable and other low-carbon energy and the sustainable management of ecosystems. These transformations should be carried out in the context of globally agreed Sustainable Development Goals, consistent with ending extreme poverty; ensuring universal access to healthcare, quality education, safe water, and sustainable energy; and cooperating to end human trafficking and all forms of modern slavery.

As mayors we commit ourselves to building, in our cities and urban settlements, the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reducing their exposure to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters, which foster human trafficking and dangerous forced migration.

At the same time, we commit ourselves to ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of modern slavery, which are crimes against humanity, including forced labor and prostitution, organ trafficking, and domestic servitude; and to developing national resettlement and reintegration programs that avoid the involuntary repatriation of trafficked persons (cf. PASS’s revision of UN Sustainable Development Goals, n. 16.2).

We want our cities and urban settlements to become ever more socially inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (cf. UN Sustainable Development Goals, n. 11).