Throughout the week of UN COP27, I attended panels and discussions ranging from coral reef restoration to net-zero technologies to climate finance. One that stuck with me was Voices of Indigenous Rights Defenders: Cases of Criminalization Across The Globe at the Indigenous Peoples’ Pavilion. The panel highlighted that the development of renewable energy requires
increased extraction and mining of transition minerals, which leads to violations of Indigenous rights and criminalization of Indigenous rights defenders. I heard from Yana Tannagasheva of the Shor people from western Siberia, Russia. She comes from the Kazas village, which was burned down by a coal company nearby because the Indigenous people residing there refused to sell their houses. In her video series Ten Stories About Coal, she described the grave impacts of open-pit coal mining: black rivers, black snow, polluted air, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. Tannagasheva had to flee her homeland and seek asylum elsewhere due to prosecution and threats from both the coal companies and the government for speaking out.

But that is only the coal industry, right? Renewable energy will be different; renewable energy is clean and green. At the same panel, I heard stories from human rights defenders from Nepal, who were arrested, detained and tortured for opposing a hydropower project in their sacred rivers. Another speaker detailed that Indigenous rights defenders who opposed lithium extraction in the Salar de Atacama salt flats were arrested, detained, and brutally beaten under police vigilance in Argentina, and many were murdered in Chile. No free, prior, informed consent was obtained from the communities from the mining operations.

Is renewable energy an equitable solution to climate change? The global demand for lithium carbonate, and as a result lithium mining, is projected to increase sixfold between 2019 and 2030 for clean technologies such as electrical vehicles and solar panels. Neodymium mining for wind turbines will have to increase by 1000-4000% in coming decades. Indium mining for solar semiconductors will need to increase 8000%. Cobalt for energy storage batteries will increase by 300%-800%.

While the sun will always shine and the wind will always blow as long as we are alive, the development of renewable energy infrastructure and green technologies requires more materials and minerals than we are currently extracting from the Earth for coal, oil and natural gas. That is not to say that fossil fuels should be a part of our future – fossil fuels must be phased out entirely. At the same time, we cannot operate under the illusion that climate justice will be delivered with continual overconsumption and waste of energy, even if that energy is coming from renewable sources. The global demand for energy and thus materials will have to decrease significantly in order for renewable energy to be sustainable. Indigenous rights violations from mining of transition minerals is only one issue that comes with renewable energy. The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our generation, but climate action cannot come at a cost to human rights. Solutions to the climate crisis must be rights-based, community-based and equitable. Corporations involved in mining operations should be obliged to conduct human rights due diligence, risk assessments and seek free, prior, informed consent from potentially impacted communities. Renewable energy can be a solution to climate change, but we need to consider more than simply the technical aspects, and human rights need to be prioritized.

Coming into COP27 with a cohort of like-minded, passionate students and faculty and high expectations for our world’s climate leaders, I was met with a firsthand view of global negotiations and action. The reality of global negotiations is far more complex, difficult, and time-consuming than we think. This year, negotiators arrived at a landmark “Loss and Damages” agreement that established a fund for allocation to vulnerable countries and their communities that are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Their arrival at this consensus marks the culmination of decades-old pressure applied by countries that need the greatest assistance in adapting and combating the detrimental effects of climate change.

Every year at COP, hundreds of nonprofit organizations, government officials, companies and other stakeholders within the environmental sphere congregate to exchange ideas and foster a space for multifaceted conversations. The space of environmental activism can be overwhelming, and I often find myself wondering where my role as an undergraduate student lies amongst other young environmentalists. Attending COP27 allowed me to connect my previous life and professional experiences to new knowledge that I absorbed with every panel discussion, every interaction with a fellow environmentalist, and every pavilion visit around the Blue Zone. As an incubator for diverse thought, this conference challenged me to examine climate issues through different lenses and encouraged me to continue learning through the experiences of others. I realized that the most impactful takeaways I had gathered stemmed from the bridging of various experiences and perspectives.

One topic that I found particularly fascinating was ecocide and its implications for the field of environmental law and activism. I had the opportunity to attend a panel event hosted by the nonprofit organization “Stop Ecocide International,” seeking to elevate ecocide to international recognition as a crime. Defined in simple terms as “the mass damage and destruction of the natural living world,” ecocide has become a burgeoning problem that necessitates a global response to mitigate further destruction. Attending this event allowed me to delve deeper and gain new insights on a topic that my previous research work had focused on from the surface level.

My experience at COP reinforced my desire to pursue a career in law and expanded the scope of environmental legal issues that I was familiar with prior to attending the conference. While immersing myself in the discussions surrounding environmental law and policy, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. There were many moments where I felt hopeful for the tangible, positive impact that legal climate action holds for our planet’s future, while simultaneously feeling overwhelmed by the obligation to understand these broad legal frameworks and processes of climate litigation and justice in one sitting. Above all else, I have been able to broaden my previously rudimentary understanding of climate litigation through this experience to guide my interests in a potential legal career.

My time in Sharm El-Sheikh was a display of the progress made in the fight for climate justice, but a sobering reality of how much further we have to go. I came to the conference with a desire to see ardent talks making monumental progress, but I was faced with stolid negotiations focused on the minutiae rather than tangible, large-scale solutions. Everytime I sought progress, I was met with compromise. Perhaps the zenith of COP27 was the announcement of a “Loss and Damage” fund intended to assist those countries most affected by climate change. Yet, there is no clear indication of who will pay into the fund, where the money will come from, or who will benefit.

A part of me anticipated this from the beginning. I appreciated how hypocritical it was to host an environmental conference in Egypt. The in-person conference poses large accessibility issues, both in terms of financial cost but also ideological freedoms for individuals identifying with certain groups. This is in addition to the massive carbon footprint created by thousands of people traveling to and from the conference.

COP is merely a microcosm of the greater unjust systems around us that oppose equality, freedom of speech, and the environment. While I write this, thousands of fans are gathered in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a sporting event riddled by corruption and bribery, and being hosted over the dead bodies of 6,500 migrant workers. I write this to the backdrop of months of protests in Iran over the murder of Mahsa Amini, and to Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s hunger strike against the repressive Egyptian government. I thought things would be different at COP, but it was very much the bureaucratic, sanitized process we’re used to seeing: a façade of rhetoric, but a dearth of real action.

Despite all this, I found the silver lining in the young voices at the conference, particularly in my fellow UConn students. This is what encouraged me and helped me appreciate how important this conference is. The conversations between UConn students and faculty were filled with emotion, determination, and genuine passion. I was uplifted by experts committed to making a change in their field, as well as by the first person accounts of indigenous peoples. The enthusiasm was palpable at one of the most seminal events at this year’s conference: the invitation of the president-elect of Brazil. Lula. There was a fervor around his environmental politics and hope that his work will be a step in the right direction to reverse the work of his predecessor.

To me, this is the true purpose of COP. The conference has the power to light the fire under thousands of young activists who are eager to enact change. Bringing people together to collaborate then dispersing them with newfound knowledge and motivation is difficult to do. It is how change begins from the ground up globally. I hope the organizers of COP embrace this aspect of the conference; the goal should be to increase access to the conference and invite young activists who bring a hunger to change their communities.

Climate Change Café

Friday, December 9

4-6pm Drop In

Student Union Room 304

Refreshments provided.

 

Fellows from UConn@COP, grantees of the Environmental and Social Sustainability Small Grants Program, and students from ANTH 1010 Global Climate Change & Human Societies will be sharing posters:

 

UConn@COP

14 students were selected to attend the United Nations’ COP27 global climate change conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt a few weeks ago. Fellows will be sharing their lessons and experiences as official observers of the climate negotiations, educational panels, and even personal discussions with John Kerry.

 

Environmental and Social Sustainability Small Grants

Five student/faculty teams were granted funds this past winter to tackle sustainability projects on UConn campuses. Learn about their projects and findings from local farm procurement, opening the UConn Swap Shop, building an ADA composting privy and more.

 

ANTH 1010 – Global Climate Change & Human Societies

Students will be sharing their research posters on specific aspects of Climate Change ranging from emissions, environmental racism, green transportation, endangered species, denialism, and so much more. You can also catch these on December 7^th in McHugh from 11:15a-12:05p.

Sharm-el-Sheikh, the location of COP27, is a coastal Egyptian resort town that is adjacent to the Great Fringing Reef. Located in the cooler waters of the Red Sea, this reef is one of the most resilient reefs in the world; it is no surprise that COP27 publicity and advertisements repeatedly featured images and videos of the beautiful and vibrant underwater world. On one panel, “Hope For Coral Reefs,” singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding praised the reef’s “sheer visual beauty” and encouraged the audience to “please experience this reef yourself.” Yet at a conference where activisists and negotiators are working long days– and sometimes overnight– there seemed to be little time left to enjoy the beauty of nature.
Aware of this incongruence– as even we observers spent nearly the entire day caught up in the exciting bustle of the conference center– mid-way through the week a small group of us decided to wake up early and head down to the water. On one of these days, Dr. Phoebe Godfrey began the morning with a meditation. We were instructed to hold our breaths until we felt the urge to breathe again, understanding how dependent and interconnected we are with the air and world around us. On the other mornings we would wake up before dawn in an attempt to watch the sunrise and swim in the Red Sea. One of the regrets I had leaving Egypt was that I did not spend more time immersing myself in the culture and nature around me. After all, one of the most incredible parts about the COP27 Fellowship Program is the opportunity to travel across the world to attend the conference.
At the same time, it is important to recognize the privilege and responsibility that comes with being able to attend COP27. Very few people have the opportunity to travel to the conference, and it is especially rare to be able to do so as a student. To have spent a week in a hotel along the coast of the Red Sea was amazing, with that luxury in juxtaposition with many of the stories told by activists from communities where significant impacts from climate change are already being felt. However, I also believe that the coming together of activists, politicians, negotiators, citizens, and indigenous peoples from around the world in one place is invaluable, and that finding joy in the world around us is necessary to sustaining activism. Particularly as frustratingly little progress was made on reaching a 1.5 degree warming target, it is important to take time to reset for the continued fight for a more equitable and sustainable future.

Winning a monumental court case should feel incredible, right? The opposite was true for Luisa Neubauer, the plaintiff in Neubauer et al. v. Germany. In 2019, Neubauer began organizing against climate inaction with Germany’s Fridays for Future. She sued the German government because its target of reducing greenhouse gases was insufficient and had violated her human rights. In April 2021, the Court ruled that Germany failed to set provisions for emission reductions beyond 2030, ordering the government to increase its climate ambitions. Ironically, the government applauded the youth’s win, calling it a victory for the climate movement. Since the circumstances of her win were devastating, Neubauer recalled that it was a sad day. No young person should have to sue their government for climate inaction, especially in countries with a reputation for defending human rights. Neubauer’s case was one of several climate trials I learned about on Solutions Day. 

Hearing about the losses endured by these selfless plaintiffs and their courageous lawsuits taught me how climate litigation advances climate justice. At the core of each case were their humanity and morality. Mike Smith, the plaintiff in Smith vs. the Attorney General, spoke about protecting the Māori people. He argued that the New Zealand government breached its public law duty to protect its citizens, particularly the Māori people, from the dangers of climate change. Smith emphasized the morality of climate change. Greed and selfishness are at the heart of climate change. Courts and labs cannot solve these moral issues; instead, we must look within ourselves to shift our morality and repair our relationship with nature. We must prioritize our customs and cultural traditions over capitalism and overconsumption. Only then will the law change, as Smith claims, “dragged kicking and screaming along behind public sentiment.” 

For Pabai Pabai, a plaintiff in Pabai Pabai and Guy Paul Kabai v. Commonwealth of Australia, his culture is inseparable from the land. A First Nations leader from the Gudamalulgal nation of the Torres Strait Islands, he sued the Australian government for its failure to reduce emissions, leading to the forced migration of his community and the destruction of their sacred sites. Pabai describes his motivation for this lawsuit; “I will fight to stay here…This is my land. I want my kids, grandkids, and future community to know that this is my dad’s land. This is how he identified himself to us.” With the threat of rising sea levels preventing his posterity from inheriting cultural traditions tied to the land, Pabai is determined to defend his land and the memories it holds. 

The lessons of resilience, morality, and cultural identity shared by these plaintiffs will guide me in my activism for climate justice and my future career. If we have the privilege of arming ourselves with legal education, we should use it to protect the environment. Criminalizing the destruction of the planet is the minimum legal requirement for justice. According to Stop Ecocide International, “ecocide” means “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” Jojo Mehta, the Chair of the Stop Ecocide Foundation, spoke about codifying ecocide in the international legal order with sanctions similar to genocide. While I listened, I reflected upon UConn’s connection to international criminal justice through the Dodd Center for Human Rights, named to honor Senator Thomas J. Dodd’s work to prosecute the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. Dodd’s prosecution of war crimes is precisely what these plaintiffs and climate lawyers are trying to achieve–punishing those who have irreparably harmed the environment. Learning about ecocide and how criminal law can mitigate the climate crisis clarified my goals for public service. I aspire to amplify the stories of climate refugees, activists, and Indigenous peoples and urge world leaders and policymakers to listen. In my future legal career, I hope to help build an international criminal law framework to prevent and deter ecocide. 

The UConn@COP fellows and faculty share reflections on their first few days at COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. We encourage you to read their blog posts below:

Compromise on Progress? – Lillian Adamo, Environmental Science, Political Science

Can We Improve Youth Influence at COP27? – Laura Augenbraun, Mathematics, Journalism

Inclusivity for LGBTQ+ at COP27 – Samuel Kocurek, Mathematics, Environmental Science

Can there be Progress in Climate Change without Equity and Binding Agreements? – Christabelle Calabretta, Law

COP27: We Want to Save the Planet, Damnit! – Maggie Singman, Environmental Health, Human Rights

Innovation vs. Fear – My Experience at COP – Sofya Levitina, Physics, Mathematics – Statistics

The Urgency of Just Energy Transitions – Sydney Collins, Environmental Science

The Power of Story at COP – Monet Paredes, Political Science and Environmental Studies

“Not a Single Town in my Country Doesn’t Have a Wastewater Issue” – Caroline Webb, Environmental Science

Challenging My Perspectives of Climate Action and What Climate Solutions Look Like – Jocelyn Phung, Chemical Engineering

We Can’t Hold Our Breath on Finance – Dr. Ben North, MBA

Unlearning Myths at COP27 – Karen Lau, Economics

The Interwoven Fates of Climate Change and Health – Erik Choi, Physiology and Neurobiology, Economics

Science and Policy: Multilateral Approaches to Addressing Ocean Acidification – Claire Lee, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Political Science

Why Am I Here? – Dr. Mark Urban

COP27: Does Science Set Long Term Goals of UNFCCC? – Dr. Anji Seth

 

Attending the UN Conference of the Party (COP) has been one of the most incredible experiences and I am immensely grateful for this opportunity. It allowed for unique access to the highest level of climate discussion in the world. These discussions utilize many unique formats. There are engaging panels, reporting mechanisms, and negotiations that all occur simultaneously. At times it can be overwhelming, but it allows for a well-rounded perspective of climate action at multiple scales. There are visible differences in the structure, organization, and often even the atmosphere of different events.

I had the opportunity to attend the Special Report on the Emission Gap Assessment. This discussion presented the sobering reality that we are not on target to meet the 1.5 degree Celsius of warming which is a threshold in which the impacts of climate change will have increasingly devastating consequences. We are currently already at 1.1 degree Celsius of warming and the window is closing to minimize warming to 1.5 degrees. Each increment of warming has a profound impact and steps need to be taken to minimize each decimal point of warming to prevent greater adverse consequences. This presentation was data-oriented and comprised of implementation components, overall assessment, and explanations. It allows for a reflection that was made in the past year since COP26. This report is the compilation of numerous data collection points synthesized into major takeaways. There needs to be a 45% reduction in greenhouse gasses to hit the 2 degree Celsius threshold, but there has only been a 1% reduction. This highlighted that we need wide-scale, rapid systemic transformation to meet these goals. This discussion was dynamic and visual with the use of presentations and graphical figures. Audience members had the opportunity to interact directly with the panelists following the discussion of the report which promoted a sense of collective action. While it is challenging to hear these statistics and how far we are from our collective target, hearing this information relayed firsthand from United Nation Officials, such as Inger Andersen and Simon Stiell, was inspiring because it is a reminder that there is accountability through reporting.

Additionally, I came into the conference knowing that I wanted to see a negotiation firsthand within a negotiation room. The goals of negotiations themselves are to provide a space for the delegates to craft documents, develop frameworks, and reach a consensus. The party members are representatives of their respective countries and aim to ensure that their agenda is advanced throughout negotiations. Ultimately it is where decisions are made. As a result, the information, content, and format are less accessible. For example, it can be challenging to find the documents that delegates are reviewing. The session I attended was spent going through a document about clean development and proposing changes to the language within the document. While somewhat dry and challenging to follow, these negotiations allow interesting insight into the structure of the UNFCC. Negotiation is also the backbone of the international agreements and ultimately actions that emerge from this conference.

In complement to attending a negotiation, through the YEAH Network, we had the opportunity to directly interact with two United State negotiators, Laura Ashley and Dr. Evan Notman. It was clear that there is an overall position that the negotiation team predetermines. While it is positive to have targeted action items it seemed like this could stifle progress. Especially in a partisan nation such as the U.S., it seemed as though there would have to compromise on progress for the sake of collaboration across party lines. There also seems to be a lack of transparency in terms of who is setting and contributing to the U.S. agenda and the level of influence that even the negotiators themselves have. The negotiators seemed to be primarily focused on adaptation efforts and when asked, they seemed to believe that the U.S. was making progress. And while there have been observable incremental improvements, it is important to hold these individuals, and the United States as an institution, accountable for comprehensive and timely climate action and mitigation.

Every discussion at COP has encouraged me to rethink my perspective, undergo personal growth, and well as remain critical of the system around me. These discussions were shaped by the modality that they were in whether that be a report, a negotiation, or a personal meeting. Throughout the week there have been moments of inspiration, but also of frustration as well. One thing is clear, action on climate change is long overdue and there needs to be collective, international change now.

Until I was walking into the UN COP Climate Change Conference in Sharm El Sheikh after receiving my pass, I did not believe that I was going to be attending such a life changing event. I am incredibly thankful to have been given this opportunity to not only attend COP, but to do so alongside such amazing UConn students and faculty. After being at the conference for just three days, my viewpoints on climate-related subjects have been shifted completely, my original thoughts challenged, and my mindset on tackling the climate crisis changed, all in the best ways possible.

While I recognize that I am incredibly lucky to be speaking with some of the world’s top leaders on fighting the climate crisis, something I have noticed the lack of representation of the younger population at the conference, specifically those from developing countries. This observation was striking, considering climate discussions very frequently boil down to how it is my generation’s responsibility to fix and that only the younger population has the power to make a change. Additionally, it’s been brought up in multiple discussions how the effects of climate change hit minority communities and developing countries the hardest. Yet, these exact people, young students from developing nations, are not the ones in attendance. I understand that many may not have the time nor money to travel far distances, and that is why I’ve been thinking about and want to pursue the idea of creating a UNFCCC grant. Any type of organization or person could have the ability to donate to this grant, and the UNFCCC should allocate a specific amount of money each year to give to it as well. The money that is raised would be given to several students that deserve representation and a place in the discussions, panels, and negotiations.

The application process for this grant should be through a program the UNCCC either creates or works with that sends reporters and journalists into parts of the world that are experiencing disastrous climate change-related events to interview and find potential applicants. It’s important to give the application process more humanity instead of simply looking at an online form – you simply cannot express everything through an essay.

We need to bring students who have experienced life-changing events due to climate change to COP because their story is what most people will follow and listen to. On my second day of the conference, I attended a presentation given by the BBC called Fact-Based Storytelling versus Misinformation. During this presentation, Marsha Ochieng, the Growth Editor for BBC Africa, discussed the company’s findings when studying which stories received the most views out of their coverage of COP26 last year. What they found was that, rather than watching stories on activists and policy makers presenting facts and figures, their audience was much more receptive to listening to the horrors climate change has brought onto normal people. The difference in the types of stories had as much as a 500,000-viewer difference.

What was particularly exciting about learning this was that it ties perfectly together with the work I do in my Environmental Justice Leadership Program that I lead at UConn with four other students and a professor. During our discussions on how to gain support on campus, we spoke about how “people follow people” and the presentation by BBC was a perfect representation of that. Therefore, it is so important to give those who have stories about how climate change has altered their life a platform to speak, not only to gain support from those outside of the conference, but also to push climate legislation and negotiations that are happening inside.

Although the conference has been a fountain of information with opportunities to learn all around you, I think there are still some important people missing from the conversations, people that are dealing with the effects of climate change on a first-hand basis, and could make a large impact on both the following of COP by outside viewers and how successful the conference is in terms of pushing forward climate legislation.

COP27 has been one of the most overwhelming yet formative experiences of my life thus far. Meeting some of the most influential activists, community organizers, and politicians has been humbling and enlightening. I have met various people who have left me in tears including Ms. Elizabeth Wathuli. During my very first panel at COP, she spoke about the disproportionate effects that women feel from the climate crisis and about her work in Nairobi, Kenya where women dig wells so deep that they get buried alive due to sediment collapse. I have tried to be a sponge, absorbing the knowledge that all these professionals have, especially as it pertains to clean, renewable energy since that is where I believe my career interests lay. Getting to exchange contact information with people like Ms. Ann Ohloff, the chief scientific editor of the Emission Gap Report, and Louise Burrows, an Energy Advisor for E3G’s Coal Transition team, feels surreal and as I write this blog, this very much feels like a fever dream. I am beyond grateful to be in this space and I feel that with every panel I change my perspectives and grow as a young climate activist.

However, I have noted a distinct lack of queer representation at COP27. Many (not all) panels show a diversity of gender, race, and background yet noticeably, there is no discussion about queer people existing in these spaces. I come from a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies background so I feel keenly aware of how LGBTQ+ people occupy spaces and feel comfortable to express themselves in these spaces. To say I am disappointed is somewhat of an understatement. There is so much wisdom here at COP at the variety of panels and events which tells us that diversity strengthens humanity and climate resilience as a whole. So to see a whole group of people ignored and made invisible feels disenfranchising.

This is when I feel thankful to be a UConn student. This cohort of young undergraduates and graduates makes me feel hope when we begin each day with stimulating and engaging ‘Breakfast Talks’ where we discuss our thoughts and feelings about the conference. All the fellows come from a variety of backgrounds and throughout the day we all venture into different panels and learn such a plethora of knowledge. During our morning ‘Breakfast Club’ I find the points of views expand my knowledge of COP27 and give me greater agency to squeeze every ounce out of the conference. I am excited for solutions day tomorrow. Climate activism can be heavy and discouraging so it is important to embrace these solutions and recognize that any change is positive change.