Global leaders pledge $240m for IFAD to protect Amazon rainforest

25 / 09 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

Global leaders pledged $240 million for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), promised to protect a further 900,000 hectares of land in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, and secured promises from nine members of the US Congress, and the leader of the Labor Party in the UK, Kier Starmer, to follow through on national climate commitments.

Addressing the Global Citizen Festival, United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed highlighted the race to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), end the climate crisis, and push for real gender equality.

Despite pouring rain, around 60,000 advocates, artists, influencers and concerned citizens were in New York’s iconic Central Park on Saturday night, where they heard the deputy UN chief issue a clarion call to mobilize for change.

“Well at the United Nations, we’re joining you, we are mobilizing people around the world.”

Global Citizen’s main mission is to end extreme poverty, through goals that align fully with the UN and the SDGs.

The Deputy Secretary-General acknowledged that many around the world are hurting both in “mind and body”, with wars raging, and the planet not just warming – but boiling.

“Leaders are really struggling to use their power to keep the promises of the Global Goals and they risk breaking that promise to billions of people”, she said.

The good news is with seven years remaining to 2030, the game can still be won in the second half, but “we can’t win unless we stop our world from heating up.”

“We need leaders to bridge the digital divide – because we can’t win if billions of people especially girls are left offline and left behind.”

She said if women and girls are left on the sidelines of the collective effort that means half the team isn’t even on the field.

“So New Yorkers, it’s crunch time. But crunch time is when champions are made”, she said.

“Let’s unite and fight together – inch by inch – to keep the promise of achieving the Global Goals by 2030.”