Declare ‘emergency’ for people and the planet

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 yesterday, 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 UN 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.

A United Nations assessment last year found that progress has been made on the goal of ending extreme poverty, but in other areas, “progress has been slow or even reversed”.