(SLENA, 3rd November, 2021). The Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki Sawyer catalogues a day (2nd November 2021) at the COP-26 in Glasgow on Facebook. This includes meeting with Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos.
It reads
“I started the day as the keynote speaker at the “Urban Informality & Inequality: A Global Call for Climate Justice” event, where I talked about climate justice and the importance of taking account of the cumulative risks created by conditions of urban informality, inequality and climate vulnerability in developing effective responses to climate change. The session was hosted by Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) in partnership with Cities Alliance and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
I then had the opportunity for a one-on-one meeting with Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, where we discussed support to reforestation efforts around the world. I am pleased to hear that he has pledged $2bn for restoring nature at COP26.
Following that meeting, I made contributions at the World Resource Institute’s Nature Pavilion where I explained our #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign in the context of African reforestation.
I then joined the Achieving Net Zero – Building Back Better with Hull Living Panel hosted by Reckitt and Goals House; the discussion focused on how business, Governments and civil society can best collaborate to build back better and greener, using Hull Living Lab as a case study.
I then went to the Resilience Hub, hosted by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, where I joined the Mayors of Athens and Miami-Dade at the Mayors for Heat Action panel discussion. The discussions focused on the urgency of addressing heat-related risks in cities to protect our most vulnerable citizens.
My day ended with an interview on NewsChannel 4, where I used the opportunity to talk about planting, growing and digitally tracking 1million trees in and around Freetown.
In all my discussions, I continue to highlight the need for urgent action in the fight against climate change, the climate finance challenge, but also innovative ways in which Freetown will ensure sustainability of tree planting and growing.”
