COP26 Blog 3: 'We are not drowning, we are fighting'

Climate activist from Kenya - Image ICN/JS

Sitting in a high-powered press pack - journalists from Vietnam on one side and Fiji on the other, Daily Express opposite and world's media all around, such as Reuters, The Washington Post, and The Guardian - I felt a buzz to see this massive media focus on the Climate Crisis. It's about time!

I set up my laptop at one of the hundreds of workstations provided while munching the free bar of chocolate we were given on the way in. The packet said, 'Store below +1.5 degrees celsius to avoid a meltdown' and realised this would be only the first mention of 1.5 degrees I'd be hearing today. We knew that 120 world leaders were gathering because we could hear their helicopters overhead and today was the first of two days of their inputs.

Were we going to get more "Blah, Blah, Blah", as Greta Thunberg feared a few weeks back? The conference's goal is to make real progress in the move towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is widely seen as the key level needed to avoid the most destructive consequences of global climate change.

In fact, I was impressed that the first round of speakers seemed more serious than I have ever heard them. "Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change" said Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He hoped for a green transition and for making available at least $100 billion dollars a year to help the global south. He noted that "half the population of the world is under 30 and they will judge us; if we fail they will not forgive us." He felt the leaders also had a duty to the unborn, saying "we cannot let them down", a reference to future generations. He concluded that "we have the opportunity and the duty at COP26 to begin to irrefutably turn the tide and begin the fight back against climate change."

There were strong words too from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He warned that we are still "treating nature as a toilet" and "still careering towards climate catastrophe, with a rise above two degrees." He suggested that, "young people know it and vulnerable island states live it." He warned that, "the sirens have sounded" and urged that countries must revisit their climate policies often. "This COP must be a focus for solidarity and richer countries offer more overseas development aid" he added.

President Biden said: "Let this be the moment we answer history's call, here in Glasgow."

Prince Charles and David Attenborough underlined the need for nature-based solutions and for using this opportunity to create a more equal world.

Particularly memorable was a 'Message from the Earth' video. One image that will stay with me is of husky dogs pulling a sled though water. This powerful film of extreme weather destroying the planet's stability reminded that we need to be more attentive to Earth's natural systems and value them.

This was picked up by Indigenous activist Txai Suruí from Brazil who also felt that "Earth is speaking to us" and our targets for action "are not 2030 or 2050, but now." She told delegates that in her Amazonian home, "animals are disappearing, the rivers are dying and our plants don't flower."

Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean, 23, described what it felt like to speak up for Pacific islanders - whose homes and way of life are under threat from rising sea levels. With a gorgeous flower in her hair and an equally gorgeous smile, she begged the political leaders in front of her, "to have the political will to do the right thing because a 2 degree temperature rise could mean the end, while 1.5 degrees means a fighting chance." She reported that the youth of the Pacific have rallied behind the slogan, "We are not drowning, we are fighting."

Supporting the young is a key theme of this conference. In his Angelus address this Sunday, Pope Francis urged the more than 25,000 people attending the summit in Glasgow to listen to "the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor." The Pope prayed that the conference would bring efficient responses and offer concrete hope to future generations. The Vatican is giving an input tomorrow afternoon. The Holy See's delegation is being led by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. In an interview before leaving for Glasgow, Cardinal Parolin said the conference must affirm the centrality of multilateralism and of action.

But perhaps the most famous young climate activist, Greta Thunberg, voiced caution about expecting too much from COP26. Speaking this evening at a 'Fridays for Future' meeting of young activists near the COP26 site, she said: "Inside COP there are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our future seriously, pretending to take the present seriously of the people who are being affected already today by the climate crisis. Change is not going to come from inside there."