For the fourth consecutive year, the Paris Peace Forum gathered the most important actors in global governance for a unique hybrid edition from November 11 to 13 to advance concrete solutions to the enormous challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to improve global coordination in times of Covid-19.
The 4th edition in numbers:
In 2021, the Paris Peace Forum brought together heads of state, government and international organizations, leaders of NGOs and multinationals, and a number of civil society players for the Opening Ceremony on November 11.
"Giving strength to effective multilateralism means setting regular milestones to see where we stand."
Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic
"In the 21st century, addressing inequality is a strategic imperative for each of us. For our security and our health, our shared prosperity, and our collective future."
Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
"There is a clear need for the expansion of vaccine manufacturing in Africa."
Muhammadu Buhari, President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria
"We have no option but to secure vaccines for millions that do not have access to them."
Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
The Paris Peace Forum continues to demonstrate that in a deteriorated international environment, it is still possible to advance governance solutions, scale up projects, and launch new initiatives that respond to the cross-border challenges of our time. This year, the Space for Solutions, in a hybrid format, hosts 80 projects tackling the issues at the heart of the 4th edition.
These projects have achieved concrete results and stand out by their international multi-actor dimension and their capacity to create sustainable change.
During the Forum, ten of these projects will be selected to receive customized support from our Scale-up Initiative (SCUP), an accelerator involving mentoring, peer learning, and advisory services, which aims at amplifying their impact.
Discover the projects showcased in 2021
Discover the 2021-22 Scale-up projects
On the occasion of the 2021 Paris Peace Forum, actors from all over the world concerned by the long-term sustainability of outer space launched the “Net Zero Space” initiative. This new initiative calls for achieving sustainable use of outer space for the benefit of all humankind by 2030 by taking concrete actions to tackle the pressing challenge of reducing debris orbiting Earth.
Outer space is a vital component of critical services for our daily life and contributes to solving global challenges, but the increase of activities in outer space has come with the rise in the amount of space debris. If space activities were to keep developing at this pace without clear actions to ensure the long-term sustainability of outer space, humankind would risk closing off the way to the final frontier for good.
The Paris Peace Forum is happy and honored to collaborate with space stakeholders around the globe to foster international, multi-actor collaboration to protect Earth’s orbital environment and contribute to global efforts in making outer space sustainable in the longer term. Arianespace, Astroscale, CGSTL/Chang Guang Satellite, CNES, EUSST, Eutelsat, ISIS BV, Planet, Share my Space, Spaceable are today paving the way to ensure sustainable use of outer space before it is too late. We hope to see many other actors join us in this task.
The place of digital technology in our lives is far greater than it was when the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted. While digital technology opens up unique opportunities for children, it can also expose them to new threats, such as cyberbullying or exposure to illegal or hateful content online.
The Paris Peace Forum hosted the launch of an international Call to stand up for children’s rights in the digital environment. French President Emmanuel Macron and UNICEF, along with seven other states, a dozen non-governmental organizations, and most of the major digital platforms (including Amazon, Google, YouTube, Meta, Microsoft, Dailymotion, Qwant, Snap, and Twitter) signed this Call and committed to enabling children to use digital tools safely and benefit from their full potential without being exposed to abuse through a series of actions.
The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, launched on 12 November 2018 at the Paris Peace Forum, is a call to come together to face the new threats endangering citizens and infrastructure. It is based on nine common principles to secure cyberspace, which provide areas for discussion and action.
The Paris Call invites all cyberspace actors to work together and encourage states to cooperate with private sector partners, academia, and civil society. The 1,200 supporters of the Paris Call (80 states, more than 700 companies, 350 civil society organizations) commit to working together to adopt responsible behavior and implement within cyberspace the fundamental principles which apply in the physical world.
As part of their participation in the 2021 Paris Peace Forum, Vice President Kamala Harris and President Ursula von der Leyen announced the United States and the European Union’s historic decision to support the Paris Call.
Independent public interest media matters now more than ever. It is a critical building block for healthy democracies everywhere. It is fundamental to countering the malicious spread of mis- and dis- information, to free and fair elections, and ensuring space where civil and democratic norms can thrive.
The International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is a new initiative to create the step change needed to enable the development, sustainability, and independence of public interest media, especially in resource-poor and fragile settings. The Fund is co-chaired by Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former New York Times President and CEO Mark Thompson.
Climate change represents an immense challenge for global security. Food insecurity, the multiplication of extreme weather events, the vulnerability of equipment and infrastructure are likely to cause large-scale social and international unrest. This challenge also affects the armed forces. The Paris Peace Forum brought together 22 Ministers of Defense from all continents to discuss the “Climate Change and the Armed Forces” initiative. This roadmap, the foundation for a growing coalition, aims to reduce emissions from armed forces, mitigate damage, and strengthen cooperation between states in the process of adapting armed forces to the impact of climate change.