On 4 July 2020, join us as we
raise awareness on the importance of addressing climate change. No country is
immune from it, greenhouse gas emissions are more than 50 percent higher than
it was in 1990, and global warming is causing long-lasting changes to our
climate system which threatens irreversible consequences if we do not act.
The 2020 International
Cooperatives Day theme was chosen to support Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
13 on Climate Action. This event will focus on the contribution of cooperatives
to combating climate change, one of the most severe challenges facing our
planet during the 21st century.
Climate change severely impacts people’s livelihoods around the world,
especially the most disadvantaged groups such as small-scale farmers, women,
youth, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, who have to cope with extreme
natural disasters and degradation of natural resources.
2020
Interactive Map: A Journey to Action
This year we are
developing an interactive map that will demonstrate the cooperative movement’s
journey to battle climate change. Working together once again with DotCoop, we
hope to have a true representation of worldwide cooperative contribution to
combating climate change, and in turn helping reduce the impact it has had on
people’s livelihoods around the world. For cooperatives who wish to participate
and also take action, this map can also serve as an inspirational starting
point toward improving our environment and reduce the effects of global warming.
To do that, we need your help.
Tell us what you have done to take action against climate change, what you are
currently involved in, or what you would like to do. Did your cooperative
launch a recent campaign to plant trees in your community? How about developing
a community solar project? Did you help a community school create a recycling
project?
Don’t forget to also include
any events that are happening in the virtual digital space like fundraisers,
talks, and awareness events. Let us know. We would love to include them all in
this year’s 2020 Interactive Map.
To be included this year,
please send an email to tom@identity.coop and provide the following information:
2020 Cooperatives Communications Guide
To help cooperatives worldwide
take this opportunity to show leadership in taking action to battle climate
change and share their cooperative values in combating this global issue, Cooperative’s Communications
Guide will soon be available in English, Spanish and French.
Meanwhile, we encourage you to promote #CoopsDay and #Coops4ClimateAction widely on all your social
media channels.
About the International Day of Cooperatives
The United Nations
International Day of Cooperatives is celebrated annually on the first Saturday
of July. The aim of this celebration is to increase awareness on cooperatives,
highlight the complementary goals and objectives of the United Nations and the
international cooperative movement, underscore the contributions of the
movement to the resolution of the major problems addressed by the United
Nations, and strengthen and extend partnerships between the international cooperative
movement and other actors.
In 1992, following a concerted
lobbying effort by the cooperative members of the ICA and Committee
for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) members, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the
first Saturday of July 1995 to be International Day of Cooperatives, marking
the centenary of the establishment of the Alliance, by resolution 47/90
of 16 December 1992.
Since 1995, the ICA and the
United Nations have been setting the theme for the celebration of the
International Day through COPAC, a multi-stakeholder partnership of global
public and private institutions, the ICA being a founding member, that
champions and supports people-centred and self-sustaining cooperative
enterprises as leaders in sustainable development