Maskbook: 5 years of the Paris Agreement
To mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement on December 12, 2015, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs launched an artistic, committed and positive action for the climate, with the association Art of Change 21, which created the Maskbook project at COP 21.
Updated on 16/12/2020
5 min
Personalities from around the world have agreed to participate in the production of this original video in which they wear masks designed by international artists from recycled materials, each carrying a message for the climate.
Maskbook
Maskbook is an international, participatory and artistic project by the non-profit organization Art of Change 21.
The project started in 2015, on the occasion of COP21, in collaboration with Chinese artist Wen Fang. It gathers almost ten thousands of participants, from more than 40 countries. Maskbook mobilises the creativity of artists and every individual on a major issue: the link between human health and the environment. This link between health and the environment encompasses many issues, the consequences of global warming, air pollution, pandemics originating from animals... The protective mask has been used as the symbol and basis for this creative action. The anxiety-provoking image of the protective mask is transformed into an expression of optimism and commitment to the planet.
Maskbook is truly a collective and engaged work of art, made up of masked portraits from around the world. A selection of 1000 masked portraits of participants from over 40 countries around the world, are presented in the gallery. Each mask is a personal creation, made from recycled materials (or very occasionally, made digitally). Each mask-creation is unique because it communicates its creator’s message in the face of the environmental crisis..
Climate Ambition Summit
Co-convened by the United Nations, the UK and France, in partnership with Italy and Chile, on the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Climate Ambition Summit which took place on 12th December 2020 marked a major milestone on the road to the crucial UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow next November.
75 leaders from all continents outlined new commitments at the Summit. This is a clear signal that the Paris Agreement - more than ever before the compass of international action - is working to steeply increase climate action and ambition.
The Summit showed clearly that climate change is at the top of the global agenda despite our shared challenges of COVID-19, and that there is mutual understanding that the science is clear. Climate destruction is accelerating, and there remains much more to do as a global community to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5C.
The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 in Paris, signed on 22 April 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and came into force on 4 November 2016 after being ratified by 96 States (183 to date), marking the return of strong international ambition to act for the climate.
France presided the 21st Conference of the Parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), was the indispensable actor for the Paris Agreement being ratified so quickly, and has made combatting global warming a priority in its political agenda.