Greenville Mayor Recaps COP 28

GREENVILLE - COP 28, held in Dubai this year concluded Dec. 12 and Greenville mayor Errick Simmons was there leading some of the discussions on how to help vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
Greenville mayor Errick Simmons, who serves as chairperson of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), met with other mayors from around the world to discuss the impact of climate change on their cities.
“It was critically important for me as the mayor of Greenville, MS to represent not only Greenville and the Mississippi Delta, but mayors on the Mississippi River basin in the country at a global scale because we're doing local projects for the global good,” said Simmons.
Simmons says global investment in the ten-state Mississippi river basin was at the forefront of cop 28 discussions, because of its potential impact world-wide.
“When you think about the Mississippi River basin, one in 12 folks consume commodities on the Mississippi River basin. It accounts for 40% of all U.S. agricultural commodities,” he highlighted.
And with that big economic impact comes a lot of jobs, making an even bigger difference.
“The freshwater economy of the Mississippi River basin support 1.3 million jobs is manufacturing, aquaculture and tourism in Mississippi. That's 66,000 jobs at $4.4 billion,” Simmons noted.
He pointed to the most recent Mississippi river drought event.
“We had barges right here in our back door in Mississippi with wheat, corn and grain right out here in the Mississippi river stuck and not able to get the market,” Simmons added.
Which is he and other mayors met with those like senior advisor to the president John Podesta, and other stakeholders who support investment in the Mississippi River corridor, looking for ways to work around, or even slow the impact of climate change on towns big and small around the world.
Simmons visited with former New York mayor and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg, who not only hosted a local climate action summit with mayors around the world, but also funded and sponsored mayor Simmons for the entire conference.