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Malala joins thousands of activists urging leaders to 'act faster' on global goals
(Reuters News, 30 Jan 2020) More than 2,000 activists have declared a state of 'emergency' for people and the planet in a letter demanding urgent action from world leaders.
Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai and environmentalist Jane Goodall are among more than 2,000 activists who declared a state of "emergency" for people and the planet on Thursday, in a letter demanding urgent action from world leaders.
"We need you to act faster", read the open letter, addressed to world leaders who in 2015 signed up to a series of U.N. global goals to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
"There are not just a few of us - there are millions with one voice and one question. How will you keep your promise and deliver dramatic progress towards the global goals this year?"
"Love, Actually" director Richard Curtis, who has campaigned for the global goals and was among the letter's signatories, said there had been "nothing like enough progress" in the five years since the goals were set.
But he said growing public awareness of issues ranging from climate change to modern slavery was forcing companies and governments to change their behaviour, citing Microsoft's recent pledge to remove all the carbon it has ever emitted.
"People are becoming increasingly aware of their own lives,," Curtis told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Reuters News, 30 Jan 2020: Malala joins thousands of activists urging leaders to 'act faster' on global goals
