Author: Daniel Torres

As we’ve previously mentioned, COP26 is packed with thousands of people each day (according to news reports, more than 30,000 people are in attendance.) Each of these attendants is designated with a certain status/classification which include: observers (mostly civil society and NGOs), media/press, and party members (heads of state, negotiators, and their staff members). (FYI, Melissa just posted a blog and does an amazing job discussing more about these dynamics.) While we are recognized by the UNFCCC as official delegates, our observer status signifies not just our current roles, but also lets us know which spaces we can actually have access to.

Today, Alicia and I decided to visit the Green Zone — The Green Zone is a separate space where the public can get access to events, exhibitions, workshops and talks hosted by civil society, artists, business and other groups from across the UK and all over the world. This year, the Green Zone is at the Glasgow Science Centre which is around an 8-10 minute shuttle ride (GMaps says 5 minutes, but it’s definitely longer) from the Blue Zone, located at the Scottish Events Campus.

• 

• 

We decided to attend an event there entitled: Role of Indigenous peoples and their communities and nature-based solutions. While I won’t use this blog to go in depth about their discussions,  I do want to point out a particularly interesting moment of the session. The Indigenous group (including José Gregorio Díaz Mirabal and Tabea Cacique), who spoke only Spanish and Portuguese, was halfway disrupted by a Scottish woman who exclaimed: “Some us only speak English here!”

While I would like to believe that this woman’s sudden interruption was not out of malice, but merely out of frustration and an (extreme!) eagerness to understand the group, I could not help but be bothered about the larger structural issues present: barriers in communication. Sessions at COP26 are mostly in English which really puts those that are from non-English speaking countries at a big disadvantage — whether that be in activism or negotiations. Communication and participation are so closely related, and at a place like COP… it is perhaps the most crucial aspect. 

After that event, Alicia and I headed to our very first plenary focused on discussing what can be done to enhance the scale and effectiveness of climate finance. Plenaries are sessions which are generally available to everyone (for the last two days, it was not open to observers) where they have panelists to discuss a certain issue and provide heads of states, ministers, and (at the end, if there is time) observers the chance to speak. We had the opportunity to sit very closely to the middle of the stage, just behind the Guyana and Guinea-Bissau delegation. Not every country was present — whether that was due to other commitments or rather the inability to send anyone to the conference, it is important to point out that many of these absent delegations included nations from Africa and the Pacific.

• 

• 

Nonetheless, we were still able to recognize some familiar government officials, including Philippine lead negotiator and current Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez. Alicia and I had the chance to meet and chat with him where he asked us about our role here, experience, and background (Of course, I had to let him know that I was Filipino as well!)

If you’ve been keeping in touch with my blogs and comments, I have raised my concern about the ways that the Philippine delegation was approaching COP26. Taking this very rare opportunity, I decided to discuss this with Dominguez and his party about their chosen representation. They shared with me that they decided to have a small group out of a “respect for the UK’s requests” and also their goals in bolstering the group with finance officials and experts due to the important discussion of climate finance. 

It was a definitely an exciting moment to have had this moment to speak with him and the Philippine party. However, my point underscoring the importance of having representation like climate justice activists, scientists, and Indigenous members still stand.

I had a great time being in this session (will hopefully write a blog getting into the specifics of a plenary!), and being so close to so many influential people… Yet, I can’t help but be disappointed in the other important people that are still left out of these room. Despite great efforts to have a more inclusive COP, issues in representation and participation still remain.

I am trying to make the most of my limited experience here, and will definitely be more in the plenary sessions (and hopefully be able to make a statement and/or ask a question if given the opportunity.) For now, I’ll settle with my five seconds of fame after being featured next to the Nepali lead negotiator during the plenary session. (I can’t seem to find the video — but rest assured, I will add that link as soon as I get access to it.)

Today marks the end of the World Leaders Summit! For context, each day has a theme in which discussions follow — it’ll be focused on finance tomorrow! (check out the Presidency Programme here)

Here is the set of sessions that I decided to attend today (see below). My goal today was two-fold: first, continue learning about the impacts of unequal representation on the ground, while the second was attempting to informally chat with national delegates / party members.

Despite being 10 minutes late, I joined Melissa at event titled: Glasgow Climate Dialogues, where they invited folks to think about how to improve participation by the Global South at COPs in order to hold a “just transition.” They shared with us a communique which includes efforts on access, participation, adaptation, and more. 

“Every effort possible must be made by the COP26 Presidency and others to get delegations from all parties to COP26 – especially from the Global South. This effort must include enhancement in the rollout of vaccines, arrangements for hotel quarantine, adding capacity to visa processing, and ‒ as a fall back ‒ creation of global hubs to enable virtual access where travel is impossible.”

– Excerpt from the Communiqué (Glasgow Climate Dialogues)

One of the panelists, Oxfam UK CEO Danny Sriskandarajah, reified the “moral imperative to include the most marginalized and the future generations” within our climate discussions. While Sriskandarajah’s statement is inspiring and one that I agree with, I often find myself frustrated in thinking about this given that most diversification and inclusion efforts does not necessarily equate to actionable change. This led to me asking:

Fellow panelists Margaret Naggujja and Julius Ng’oma agreed with my statements, with Ng’oma discussing how the complexities of negotiations at COPs can be detrimental to certain groups. For example, Ng’oma recalls the story of the Malawi delegation finding it difficult to navigate these spaces, adding onto another challenge to their work. Sriskandarajah circled back at the end also agreeing, ending the discussion with a call to action for COPs to have a “participation revolution.” To watch the dialogues (and hear me ask my question!), check out this video: Glasgow Climate Dialogues.

Following this, I had some time in between my next couple of sessions, where I had the chance to interview party members and delegates of South East Asian countries Thailand and Indonesia. We chatted about the difficult and/or ease of getting to COP26, goals and achievements of their respective nations, and also their level of their optimism for COP26. (Side note: I actually interviewed two other European delegates who later revoked their consent to have their thoughts and photos published). Below I share some of the insights from my interviews.

DISCLAIMER: The two members provided their consent for their statements to be summarized in this blog, for their photos to be included, and also wanted to make clear that all of their statements do not necessarily reflect the entire opinion of the delegation.

First, I interviewed Indonesian journalist Jessica Wulandari, who mentioned that she and the rest of the delegates had a surprisingly easy process getting into the UK in terms of getting their VISAs. As a reporter of the Indonesian delegation, she mentioned that her main goal was to keep the Indonesian community engaged throughout the next two weeks, especially on their concerns on international climate funding. Wulandari is referencing the $100 billion climate fund that countries are currently negotiating on how to finance and distribute. Taken all this into consideration, Wulandari remains optimistic for the outcomes that will come from COP26.

• 

• 

For the Thailand delegation, I interviewed Environmental Analyst Wirat Songsri who, unlike Wulandari, mentioned the challenge of attending due to the process of quarantine and financing it. When asked about Songsri’s goals, he cited Thailand Prime Minister’s Prayut Chan-o-cha goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, eventually working towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Songsri also remains optimistic in achieving these goals, but highlighted the necessity for international support to reach these efforts.

Admittedly, it was pretty difficult approaching these busy folks and getting them to speak to a random college student standing around with an iPhone in hand taking notes. But I am immensely grateful that they took the time to chat with me. 

Filled with thousands of people everyday, COP26 is increasingly overwhelming to navigate. Although my status as an observer means that there are (many!) limits to my participation, I am still trying to make use of my time here by connecting with people who mainstream media do not often hear from. It was an extremely jam packed day today (and I can only expect the next couple of days to get busier). While I take a rest after today, please enjoy this photo of Alicia being told to distribute headphones for an event at the World Health Organization pavilion. 

Greetings everyone from Glasgow, Scotland! 

While the Swarthmore COP Week 1 Delegation (Daniel Torres Balauro, Alicia Contrera, Clare Hyre, and Melissa Tier) got to an early yet slow start on our first official day, our days’ pace immediately changed as soon as we entered. Although it is still quite difficult to develop a daily itinerary given the quick changes that occur, insider info you get on the ground, and informal meetings, here is a list of the events that I had planned to do today.

Surrounded by fellow observers, national delegates, and heads of state, we ventured into the “Blue Zone,” where country and organizational representatives host events ranging from topics showcasing their current advocacy, research, and efforts. (Side note: The difference in country’s funding was quite apparent just by comparing country pavilions like that of the United Arab Emirates’ versus Tuvalu’s).

• 

• 

Given my personal interest in exploring the power imbalance between “developed” vs “underdeveloped” nations, I was intentional in attending events that expanded on this exact topic. 

For example, my very first COP event, entitled, “Forests and People: How Can REDD+ Support Indigenous and Local Forest Communities, and What Have We Learned So Far?,” was paneled by Indigenous leaders and activists from around the world. Present were Tuntiak Katan, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Dolores de Jesus Cabnal Coc, and Raymond Samndong who discussed their efforts in ensuring that REDD+ (Reducing emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) Framework to center Indigenous strategies in its implementation. They highlighted the fact that despite financing Indigenous peoples (which has its own complications), policy-reform (in other words, collaboration with governments) must be the utmost priority. In Swarthmore fashion, I pushed this answer even more and asked: How do we continue this sort of collaboration with governments like that of Brazil’s and the Philippines’s who have been explicit in undermining the rights of Indigenous peoples? While they were not able to fully answer my question due to time, they explained to me that the enhancement of internal “capacity-building” in Indigenous communities is one way to address this challenge — and thus, we must find ways to strengthen our collective action.

Later on the day, I joined the rest of the COP delegation for two sessions at the United States (US) pavilion respectively titled, “Launching the Decisive Decade of Climate Action” and “America is All in: A society-wide Mobilization to Meet US Climate Goals,” where representatives talked about the important role of the US in addressing the climate crisis, especially after its previous withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. In these sessions, we were joined by many notable folks including, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, US Climate Envoy John Kerry, National Climate Advisor Gina Mccarthy, and Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

To top my very first day at COP26, Alicia and I had the chance to informally meet former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Swarthmore alumna Christiana Figueres ’79. It was nerve-wracking to approach her, but I’m so glad we did since she met us with so much excitement and imparted to us some words of wisdom and advice (whatever that advice was will be kept to me and Alicia for now).

It was so powerful and valuable to me to be able to be in a space to discuss and learn about these issues. While efforts have been made for the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented voices within the international climate regime, I remain cognizant of the flawed power structures that puts the future of these nations in the hands of those that continue to threaten it. Throughout my next couple of days here at COP26, I hope that I am able to continue learning from folks around the world aiming to resolve these important issues.