New campaign calls on leaders to take climate action

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That's the warning by more than a thousand organisations around the world which are launching a new campaign called action/2015, calling on local and world leaders to take urgent action to halt man-made climate change, eradicate poverty and address inequality.

The new calculation released by the action/2015 coalition shows that, even using relatively conservative scenarios, the number of people living in extreme poverty - on less than $1.25 a day - could be reduced dramatically from over a billion to 360 million by 2030.

Key objective

Based on work by the University of Denver, in the year 2030, about 4 % of the global population would live in extreme poverty, (compared to 17% today) if critical policy choices on inequality, poverty investment and climate change are made this year and implemented thereafter. Estimates of other researchers, looking at a longer list of variables, show that the eradication of extreme poverty is achievable for the first time in history - a key objective of the campaign.

However, if leaders fail to deliver and build on the growing momentum for ambitious deals at the UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development in September and the UN Climate talks in Paris in December, and scale back their efforts, the number of people living in extreme poverty could actually increase to 1.2 billion by 2030.

Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize winner who put her life on the line for the right to education, said 2015 must be the year the world wakes up and delivers a safer, more just future for children and young people. "We all must play our part in ensuring this is the case. Do not let this opportunity go to waste."

Alongside Malala, dozens of high profile activists from Queen Rania of Jordan and Bono to Ben Affleck, Bill and Melinda Gates and Mo Ibrahim have backed the coalition of over a thousand organisations in more than 120 countries around the world. The campaign is calling on world leaders to agree plans to eradicate poverty, prevent dangerous climate change and tackle inequality at these summits.

Activities taking place

At part of the launch, activities are taking place in more than 50 countries all around the world from Lebanon and Liberia to Nigeria and Norway to South Africa and Sri Lanka. Many of these are spearheaded by 15 year olds - a constituency who will be among the most affected by the agreements:

• In South Africa, 15 year olds will meet with Sports and Recreation Minister, Fikile Mbalula, in Soweto to speak about their hopes for the future.
  
• In Nigeria, 15 year olds will present their hopes for the future to Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at a live concert.
  
• In Uganda, young people will challenge the Speaker of Parliament to listen to their demands when they hand over a petition signed by over 10,000 young people.
  
• In New York, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon will meet a group of 15 year olds to discuss why we need global action in 2015.
  
• In the UK, some of Britain's leading youth activists will meet Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition, to urge them to seize the opportunities of 2015.

Notes

*The 'almost 1 billion lives' figure is calculated from best and worst scenarios based on different actions that could be taken affecting inequality, climate change, growth, aid and social investment. These variables are computed by the International Futures model developed at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver.
**Under the best case scenario the number of people living in poverty could be reduced to 360m (4%) by 2030. In the worst case scenario the number of people living in poverty could increase to 1.2 billion, a difference of 886 million.