Week 3 – COP27 Solidarity- Global Partners
One of the ways to Decolonize Climate Action is to listen thoroughly to Indigenous peoples and people from the Global South, and to the organizations that represent them. What they are saying is necessary for effective climate action.
This week, we will listen to these voices regarding the climate emergency.
On Tuesday, September 13 at 8 p.m. EST please join us for the online event: Meet the COP27 Delegation Learn more and register.
KAIROS and For the Love of Creation are sending a delegation to COP27 in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt in November. Delegates include KAIROS Women, Peace and Security partners, global solidarity partners, as well as Indigenous partners and youth from Turtle Island. Each delegate made a short video to introduce themselves and share how they experience and work against climate change. During the event, delegates will also call on participants, as allies, to address the injustices they or their communities face. Small group discussions will provide opportunities to deepen our learning and commitment.
On Wednesday, September 14, we will introduce you to our COP27 delegates from Latin America: Kelly Campo, Organización Femenina Popular (OFP), Colombia; and Ivonne Yanez, Acción Ecológica, Ecuador.
We will post introductions of our African delegates on Thursday, September 15: Chantal Bilulu, ASP-Héritiers de la Justice, Democratic Republic of Congo; Juan Rachael, South Sudan Council of Churches, South Sudan; and Noble Wadzah, Oil Watch Africa, Ghana.
On Friday, September 16, we will feature our delegate from Palestine: Hana Elias Antoun Kare, Wiam: Palestine Conflict Transformation Centre, West Bank, Palestine.
And on Saturday, September 17, meet Paul Belisario, International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation, Philippines.
Next week you will meet the delegates from Canada:
- Clifford Mushquah, Anishinaabe from Pawgwasheeng (Pays Plat First Nation) on the northshore of GichiGami (Lake Superior). KAIROS Blanket Exercise Facilitator
- Tia Kennedy, Oneida Nation of The Thames and Walpole Island First Nation. Youth Delegate
- Yusra Shafi, International student from Kuwait at University of Toronto in Psychology and Environmental Behaviour, intern at Development and Peace. Youth Delegate
Accompanying the delegation will be KAIROS staff: Radia Mbengue, Global Climate Justice and Africa Partnerships program coordinator and Rachel Warden, Partnerships Manager.
Like Climate Action Month, the Delegation is framed around the theme of Decolonizing Climate Change. It will highlight the urgency of meaningful participation and leadership of women human rights defenders and peacebuilders, Indigenous peoples and youth from Canada and the Global South, in decision-making spaces related to climate policy, programming and action.
World leaders can also speak powerfully to us, such as Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados at the Opening of COP26 last year. Her eight-minute speech is worth listening to.
The Global South consortium Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025) “aims to elevate the voices and priorities of climate-vulnerable countries at UN climate negotiations.” Of particular interest are the five priorities detailed in ACT2025’s Call for Enhanced Implementation.
- Bridge the mitigation gap to help limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C.
- Deliver high quality and scaled up finance flows, especially to the most vulnerable.
- Enhance efforts to implement adaptation measures.
- Secure finance for loss and damage.
- Implement the Paris Rulebook to hold countries and non-state actors accountable.
Global civil society demands that countries like Canada act on these priorities. Canada has contributed more than its fair share of climate-causing emissions. It has not contributed a comparable fair share of action or money to mitigate or adapt to the climate crisis hammering the planet. Canada did not do much at COP 26 last year. There is an urgency for change in Canada’s climate policy and approach.
Instead of exerting its privileged position in the world to avoid a more responsive and responsible stance, Canada needs to do the opposite. This begins by listening to, responding to and being accountable to those who are most impacted by climate change.
Week 2 Digest
Canada – Complicity and Action
Advocating against environmental racism
Corporate accountability parliamentary bills
