This is your COP26 weekend update.
While most world leaders have left the COP26 summit, the conference is far from over. Delegates from all over the world are still in Glasgow negotiating pledges, policies, and goals for the next year. The stakes are high. Negotiations are centered on the finalization of the “Paris Rulebook” and the conclusion of remaining issues from COP25. The delegates tasked with finding common ground among the 197 Parties to the UNFCCC face an uphill battle to resolve the large number of issues up for discussion. Not only do they have to impress each other with their negotiations, but they have to face the activists and protestors outside who have shared harsh words about their opinions of the conference thus far. Here is what has happened over the weekend at COP26.
Former US Vice President Al Gore kicked off the weekend by saying that progress had been made on addressing rising global temperatures, but COP26 delegates will have dire consequences if countries did not keep their promises. Summing up the first week, he said: “We have the tools that we need to solve this crisis. We have heard pledges that will move us in a long direction toward these solutions. We must not declare victory here, we know that we have made progress, but we are far from the goals that we need to reach.”
After this speech, activism and awareness efforts at COP26 did not take a break over the weekend. Tuvalu’s minister gave a speech to COP26 standing knee-deep in seawater to show how his low-lying Pacific island nation is on the front line of climate change. Images of Simon Kofe standing in a suit and tie at a lectern set up in the sea, have gone viral on Twitter.
Over 120,000 protesters marched on Saturday equipped with rain coats and boots in Glasgow, along with protestors in more than 300 cities around the world, to demand more ambitious action at COP26. At a rally at Glasgow Green, Indigenous communities called for rainforest protection and food producers to use ecologically sustainable forms of farming. Activists also accused the conference of “greenwashing” and pressured the delegates to be more ambitious and transparent with their pledges.
Activists voiced strong words about the conference:
Jean-Bertrand Mhandu: “I feel like we (the younger generation) should be at the center of the negotiations because of all the decisions that are made around us, we are the ones that are supposed to come up with innovations,”
Eric Njuguna: “COP26, as I have experienced, has been deliberately exclusionary, especially for people in the global south,” Njugana said. “Our voices need to be on the table because our voices bear the reality of what the climate crisis means to us. We need to recognize lived experience as expertise because that is knowledge too.”
Ashley Lashley: “Every day we’re seeing dramatic changes to our environment and our children’s education are severely compromised as a result of the natural disaster which we’re encountering on a daily basis,”
The delegates inside of COP26 are certainly under pressure to hold themselves accountable and take aggressive action to reverse and mitigate the effects of climate change, especially in developing countries. Protests took place in London, Barcelona, the Philippines, Belfast, Sydney, Seoul, and more to push for “on the ground” action to take place at COP26 in its second and final week.
Did you take part in a climate rally this weekend? Tell us where and how it went in the comments below!
