Day 2 was definitely not the same walk-in-the-park experience of getting in to the conference venue that I had yesterday, as this time it took about 90 minutes to get through security, but at least I know now for tomorrow, and will get there earlier.
I went into the Blue Zone again today and spend the morning with the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) of the UNFCCC – a group who I have really only just come across – who have been remarkably well organised in their communication to those delegates who are aligned with the gender messages at COP26. Each day this group send out an email with the main messages of the day, and pull together all of the events that are taking place around COP relating to gender. There is also a colour scheme, and they are asking people to wear the appropriate colour in order to stand in solidarity with the gender messages (although to be honest this would have been more useful to know before the conference, so that I could have brought the right colours with me, as there are not many days that correspond to the clothes in my suitcase as it stands). It turns out that each country has also nominated a National Gender and Climate Change Focal Point, and the list of people holding this position is here. The UK representative is Robyn Mawdsley, and she was there at the workshop, where all of the national focal point representatives were working out what their role entails, how to get the support they need, and how to collaborate for best results. I will definitely follow up with her when the conference finishes.
I spent the afternoon continuing to look around the main pavilions where each of the countries are represented, and caught some of the really interesting panel discussions that were taking place. In the Health Pavilion I heard the discussion on ‘Energy, air pollution and health: Delivering energy systems that protect climate and health’, where the main message was ‘stop burning coal’.
In the Nature+ Zone I heard ‘How cities are inspiring nations to embrace forest action’, followed by ‘Accelerating Africa’s Locally led land restoration movement’, where I learned that 65% of Africa’s land is degraded, and that AFR100 is a programme to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030. We also collectively liked the proposal that suggested countries should have their GDP values measured by the amount that they protect the climate, and they should have their wealth discounted by the amount that they damage the climate.
Following this I reverted back to the UK Presidency pavilion, where coffee is available and plugs are too, and I listened there for the second time in two days to Lord Deben talking about his role chairing the Climate Change Committee – and I have to say that the more I hear him talk, the more I like his forthrightness, and in particular his criticism of the Government’s cuts to ODA spend. He was joined today in this panel discussion entitled ‘Distributed Leadership - Working Together to Reach Net Zero’ by (amongst others) Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, and a fabulous young activists whose first name is Holly but I can’t tell you any more than that as the panellists don’t seem to be listed anywhere.
So that was about it for my second day.
Tomorrow the Women and Gender Constituency tell us to wear something yellow, but I don’t think I have anything yellow. I have to say that I am feeling the draw towards the gender activists, and this is being helped by the fabulous and supportive Whatsapp group I am a member of, which consists of all of the women that I know globally who are here as part of Womenvai.
I went into the Blue Zone again today and spend the morning with the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) of the UNFCCC – a group who I have really only just come across – who have been remarkably well organised in their communication to those delegates who are aligned with the gender messages at COP26. Each day this group send out an email with the main messages of the day, and pull together all of the events that are taking place around COP relating to gender. There is also a colour scheme, and they are asking people to wear the appropriate colour in order to stand in solidarity with the gender messages (although to be honest this would have been more useful to know before the conference, so that I could have brought the right colours with me, as there are not many days that correspond to the clothes in my suitcase as it stands). It turns out that each country has also nominated a National Gender and Climate Change Focal Point, and the list of people holding this position is here. The UK representative is Robyn Mawdsley, and she was there at the workshop, where all of the national focal point representatives were working out what their role entails, how to get the support they need, and how to collaborate for best results. I will definitely follow up with her when the conference finishes.
I spent the afternoon continuing to look around the main pavilions where each of the countries are represented, and caught some of the really interesting panel discussions that were taking place. In the Health Pavilion I heard the discussion on ‘Energy, air pollution and health: Delivering energy systems that protect climate and health’, where the main message was ‘stop burning coal’.
In the Nature+ Zone I heard ‘How cities are inspiring nations to embrace forest action’, followed by ‘Accelerating Africa’s Locally led land restoration movement’, where I learned that 65% of Africa’s land is degraded, and that AFR100 is a programme to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030. We also collectively liked the proposal that suggested countries should have their GDP values measured by the amount that they protect the climate, and they should have their wealth discounted by the amount that they damage the climate.
Following this I reverted back to the UK Presidency pavilion, where coffee is available and plugs are too, and I listened there for the second time in two days to Lord Deben talking about his role chairing the Climate Change Committee – and I have to say that the more I hear him talk, the more I like his forthrightness, and in particular his criticism of the Government’s cuts to ODA spend. He was joined today in this panel discussion entitled ‘Distributed Leadership - Working Together to Reach Net Zero’ by (amongst others) Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, and a fabulous young activists whose first name is Holly but I can’t tell you any more than that as the panellists don’t seem to be listed anywhere.
So that was about it for my second day.
Tomorrow the Women and Gender Constituency tell us to wear something yellow, but I don’t think I have anything yellow. I have to say that I am feeling the draw towards the gender activists, and this is being helped by the fabulous and supportive Whatsapp group I am a member of, which consists of all of the women that I know globally who are here as part of Womenvai.
RSS Feed