Thoughts on COP

Nyombi: Tell us about what you do

I was born and raised by a single mom of three in the suburbs of Kampala, well known as the ghetto after a devastating flood that washed away our home and a farm back in 2009. Since then I decided to join activism in 2019 to be the voice of the voiceless. I am a freedom fighter and outspoken, who prefers telling the truth even when it can cause me harm. Currently I am on the mission of educating students about the impact of climate change with one simple action, like tree planting. Last year I and my friends managed to visit 13 schools and four forests, where we did a restoration of over 7500 saplings in total. What I observed, is that today I and the rest of the young people with similar stories in Uganda, are paying the price for climate change even though we have contributed very little to it. Landslides, unemployment, droughts, floods, and diseases – are some of the calamities my children are expected to face, for the things decision-makers have avoided to reverse, even when they have a chance. Reducing emissions and taking drastic action to prevent global warming must be prioritized at the COP27 conference, this time around no pledges, we want concrete actions.

I came out to challenge all this because am not ready to allow my children and grandchildren to face this generational problem. Kampala used to flood once in 3yrs, today it floods whenever it rains. In the northeastern part of Uganda Karamoja region, the temperatures have been rising over the last 35 years. These rising temperatures have threatened to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves in the region, therefore the reduction of availability of water for crops, humans, and animals is inevitable and 62% of the number of people leaving that region are women.

Ryan: Tell us about what you do.

I have just completed an MSc in Climate Change and International Development at the University of East Anglia, as a Chevening Scholar.

I am a Climate Reality Leader of the Climate Reality Project, which raises awareness on the climate crisis. I am also a campaigner and volunteer of #IAmHampasLupa Ecological Agriculture Movement, an advocacy group supported by Greenpeace that promotes climate resilient agriculture and plant-based diets.

Nyombi: You’re standing on the stage at COP27, what is your message to the world’s leaders?

Leaders must contribute to the efforts towards appropriate adaptation measures in the least developed countries, while helping to identify policies that will safeguard and prevent shocking catastrophes. It’s time to increase investments in water harvesting and agroforestry schemes, education of the people, improved access to climate change information, and the cultivation of drought-resistant crop varieties. There is no more time left for the delay, your actions will speak louder than your pledges.

Ryan: You’re standing on the stage at COP27, what is your message to the world’s leaders?

Lost lives and properties are becoming a norm for a climate vulnerable country like the Philippines, experiencing an average of 20 typhoons each year. We need urgent climate action now. Waiting is not an option.”

https://greenmindedryan.wordpress.com/

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/nyombi-morris-climate-activist-uganda-cop26/

What would you like to tell us about your work?

At the Climate Change Coaches we help people to have better conversations about the world. We train people in how to engage and motivate themselves and others to act more decisively on the climate crisis. Powerlessness is a big problem here, and by drawing on psychology, we help people to transform that feeling into agency and action. We show people how easy-to-grasp coaching skills can help them to connect better and influence more. We work with organisations that are transforming to meet climate targets, by equipping their staff to support teams through the change. We train activists and social entrepreneurs through their networks to better motivate the public. And in our International Coach Federation accredited programme, we teach professional coaches to tackle these topics in their work. 

People often feel overwhelmed by how they can play a role in ameliorating large, complex issues like climate change.

Based on lessons learned in your field, what advice do you give to those who are motivated to act, but don’t know where to start, or feel like they may have dropped the ball in recent years with all of the other pressing issues happening globally?

Because climate change is such a complex issue, it is really normal to feel overwhelmed, and at the same time to feel a sense of scarcity, that there is ‘not enough’ time, political will or even enough of you to go around. However in many cases it is not the facts of these things, but the way that we feel about these facts that slow us down. Instead, adopting a mindset of possibility and capability can help us to overcome these feelings and be more ready to jump into imperfect action. Another thing that we hear a lot is that people see their own individual actions as insignificant, because they rightly recognise that what is needed is large-scale change. We believe that systems change when we connect really well together and use our positive experience of taking action to motivate each other. That makes it even more important that we take action that feels great (not do things we loathe because we feel we should), and that we talk about it with each other. As this is a topic that can be divisive, we make a point of being compassionate and non-judgemental because we know that very many people care, and are overwhelmed practically by everyday life as well as emotionally by the crisis. By assuming the best in each other, and finding ways to act that feel motivating not punitive, we can help friends and family to find their own reasons to act on the climate crisis. Many people fear that they will have to become an angry activist. The upside of the complexity of the situation is that there are very many ways to have an impact, from running a swap shop to reduce landfill, to forming a green team at work. We can all make an impact. 

Could you introduce yourself

I am a vision-driven leader with 20+ years of global experience in policy development, strategic planning, and tactical execution of sustainability and commercial finance strategies across the consumer goods sector. Driven by a strong sense of purpose and always wanting to make a difference. 

Stemming from a belief that climate change is one of the biggest threats to the future of our planet, I develop sustainable and more resilient food value chains to address this issue. I enable consumer goods companies to go beyond net-zero and become ‘net positive’—giving more to the world than they take. 

In a world where everyone needs to be a sustainability leader, what are the most important skills needed to drive sustainability in your view?

There are a wide range of basic leadership traits that were important thirty years ago, and will be thirty years from now. But there are five traits that I see as being particularly key for today’s sustainability leaders: 

• A sense of purpose – the ability to lose yourself in something bigger than you. 
• Empathy – a high level of compassion, humility, and humanity; the ability to value what everyone brings to the table.  
• Courage – using both head and heart to make drastic changes. If you are not uneasy, you are not going far enough! 
• Aspire – motivating others to a higher level of performance, and helping them to find their own sense of direction.  
• A collaborative spirit – the scale, scope and complexity of the transformation to come is unprecedented. The ability to create true, equal and long-lasting partnerships is pivotal.  

Sustainable leadership thrives by caring and putting people first.

https://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/

Please tell us about yourself

I’m an environmental campaigner, passionate about elevating solutions to the climate crisis, and using traditional advertising and strategic campaigning experience to drive policy and behaviour change.

There is so much noise about climate change, what are the lessons for campaigners as we approach COP 27?

If you want to be an effective environmental campaigner, it is critically important that you advocate for long-term, implementable solutions that are both publicly and politically viable. We absolutely need to push Governments around the world to do better, especially when it comes to securing climate reparations and environmental justice, but there is no time to waste in focusing on unrealistic solutions that leaders will never go for. Governments will only listen if you can convince them their electorate is on-board. Be creative, drive accountability, do your research and bring the public with you. Noise is a very good thing when it comes to raising awareness around climate and ecological breakdown; cutting through it and getting your voice heard is the challenge.

If you could build a multi sector partnership of your dreams to take forward COP26 commitments, what would it look like?

It would look outside of the ‘green bubble’ and be centred around a model of deliberative democracy. Climate commitments cannot be implemented in isolation from people and their everyday lives, and they cannot be solely designed by those who have to make the biggest transition. Multi-sector collaboration is key, but that means thinking outside of the traditional ‘sectors’, building unexpected partnerships and ensuring – as far as possible – that the ‘green’ choice is not only the right choice, but the simplest and most cost-effective one too.

Read Hannah’s blog here.

https://theirisproject.org/about

Tell us about what you do

I am currently working at Yayasan Lahan Basah (YLBA) / Wetlands International Indonesia as Acting Director. I have been working for the organization for the last 35 years, with a 4-year break for a study-works at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, the Netherlands (1997 – 2001). I have also led various important community-based wetlands projects, and I am currently the Ramsar CEPA NGO Focal Point for Indonesia, Advisor to the Ramsar Regional Centre East Asia and Expert Panel of the National Geographic Explorer. 

6 months after COP26, what changes are you seeing?

Although no significantly bold changes have been experienced during the last 6 months after CoP26, the following observations were made in Indonesia:

1. The strong implementation on Indonesian commitment to the NDC, especially in relation to the mangrove and peatlands restorations. Indonesia pledged to include the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation in coastal zone development and integrated management of mangrove ecosystem, as well as restoration of degraded mangroves and peatland as action points. The Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR) has just been launched by the Government of Indonesia, and our Yayasan Lahan Basah (YLBA)/Wetlands International Indonesia participated, to provide input on the implementation of the programme.
2. The “common but differentiated responsibility” issue. In relation to the point #1 above, there are perspectives that the broken $100 billion promise of climate finance need to be fixed now, to allow countries-with-action adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature. The UNFCCC principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” has to be properly done, so that the “no one left behind” principle of SDG is responsibly achieved. It is on this perspective that the Indonesian initiative on mangrove restoration, which is part of the global effort on battling climate change, needs to be funded in large by the climate mechanism under the climate convention.
3. The rolling discussion on phase down (instead of phase out) of the coal energy and renewable energy issue in general.

Please tell us about yourself

I’m the Executive Director of Global Canopy, a data-driven think tank that targets the market forces destroying nature. Its recent initiatives include Trase, which brings a new level of transparency to the trade and financing of commodities driving deforestation; ENCORE, a tool that reveals market dependence on nature and has been used in high-profile analyses by the World Economic Forum, the Dutch Central Bank and Swiss Re; and the nascent Task Force for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, highlighted for its transformative potential by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Why is nature key in the fight against the climate crisis?

Half of global GDP depends on nature and scientists tell us that nature itself can be one of our biggest allies against climate change. But instead of valuing it, we’re destroying it. Trillions of dollars in finance each year is fueling its destruction. So we aim to shift global markets: from nature negative to nature positive. We help leading companies, investors and governments to understand and act on their impacts and dependence on nature. And we shine a light on those not doing enough.

The problem is big and pivotal. Deforestation is a prime example, driving up our emissions at a time when we need trees and forests to bring them down. A football field of tropical forest is lost every six seconds. And two thirds of that destruction is driven by agricultural expansion for a handful of globally traded commodities like beef, soy, and palm oil. These end up in over 50% of the products in our supermarkets and are funded by our investments. That makes us all part of the deforestation economy.

How do we stop the destruction?

COP26 in Glasgow offered some hope. There was a recognition that forests offer us a precious gift to take on, and perhaps even turn around, the intertwined crisis of climate change and nature loss. And in the UK and EU new laws are on the way to ensure deforestation is not part of our economy. But these have to be fit for purpose – covering all businesses and the destruction that they are causing.

And the finance sector has to step up. 150 financial institutions provide more than $5.5 trillion in finance to companies in forest-risk supply chains, according to our annual Forest 500 report. For every £10 saved into our pensions £2 is funding deforestation. It’s a crazy situation that has to stop. As a basic requirement for meeting any net-zero commitments the finance sector has to make progress on deforestation-free portfolios by 2025. We need to stop the money that is financing our destruction and make it a tool for positive change.

What would you like to tell us about your work?

As a climate researcher, I study the significance of inland waters and agropastoral landscapes as sources or sinks of greenhouse gases emissions. I study how spatial differences and temporal changes in environmental factors influence greenhouse gas emissions from inland waters. I am currently studying the role and management of water pans in semi-arid systems, and their importance to small-scale agriculture-based rural economies, with the aim to improve their management for improved food security and greenhouse gas mitigation. Water pans are small ponds mostly constructed in drylands to collect surface-water runoff in rainy seasons to stabilize water availability in dry periods.

Why do we need to listen to the voices of scientists in the Global South?

We need to raise more awareness of the scientific evidence of the impact of climate change on agriculture and other livelihood systems in the Global South. Evermore, organizations should collaborate on climate research and case studies on successful and promising mitigation measures by organisations such as Justdiggit, WeForest and JUST ONE Tree should be echoed. Institutions that allocate funds to promote climate change mitigation should engage scientists and policymakers in the Global South in facilitating the availability of technology, skills and infrastructure for monitoring CO2 levels and climate change across different landscapes to inform adaptation policies and practices.

Collins Muhadia Bisia, PhD Graduate Fellow – International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT/IMK-IFU), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Could you introduce yourself

I head up the climate and nature portfolio at Wasafiri, a systems change consultancy, we work as a trusted adviser, collaborator and systems-change entrepreneur, relentlessly driven toward transformative action. In the past I have worked within large and small charities, central government departments and delivery agencies.

How can systems thinking inform climate action in your view?

At Wasafiri, while focusing on the enabling conditions in the system, not the problem itself we are looking for the best next step that can shift the system – not a perfect, pre-orchestrated strategy.   If we take non state actors, where some progress is made, but much more could be done – one of these conditions is the combination of those affected by climate change having limited power/resources to act and those with the power/resources to act constrained by their own (short term) risk appetite and lack of knowledge about the best impact they can have. 

How could a systems approach be integrated into COP27?

Taking a systems view here could in fact be no more complicated than bringing organisations from both ends of this spectrum together and exploring how they can work in concert to change those conditions. Crucially, beyond the specific partnership, two big gains can be found; the lessons learned about working for change with different organisations and an increase in the agency of local organisations, building their position and voice across a range of actors and interventions. Both will shift this system in which the organisations exist, beyond the current engagement.

For more on our practical approach to systems change, visit here.

Please tell us about yourself

I run a science communication course (Communicating Science for Impact) in collaboration with Dr. Tali Hoffman. We train researchers to communicate more effectively with non-specialists. Our course focuses on communication strategy, storytelling, engaging with the media, and different tools for creative communication. We have run the course with researchers from the University of Cape Town, University of Ghana, University of Nairobi, and University of Saskatchewan. As a communication trainer, I’m fortunate to work with people who are grappling with the major issues of our time: climate change, water management, renewable energy, sustainability, and more.

Why are communication skills especially important when it comes to climate change?

The climate crisis continues to deepen, threatening the sustainability of life on our planet. We need climate change researchers who can communicate about their work, which can often seem abstract, in a way that is accessible for the public, government, and media. Clear communication that speaks to people at a human level can inform positive changes in behaviour and policy. Climate change is also an increasingly polarizing issue, making empathetic communication that builds trust and inspires cohesive action essential.

Brendon Bosworth is a science communication trainer and communications specialist with a focus on climate change, urbanisation, and sustainable development. He runs Human Element Communications. 

Tell us about what you do

Since August 1st I am the Interim International Director with Practical Action UK. This means that I manage the Country and Regional Directors in Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as two teams in the UK office. As Practical Action we are in a change process and soon I will be handing over responsibility of the African countries to an Africa Director and focusing more on Asia and Latin America. Also, there we will be thinking about an organisational model where more leadership will get a voice in the global Group Leadership Team. So, Practical Action aims to become a truly global managed organisation instead of having all global directors in the UK.

Why is diverse leadership so critical in climate-related and development sectors, and how can firms like Oxford HR best support organizations to have more talented and diverse leaders?

Diverse leadership is important as people from Southern countries directly experience what the impact is of climate change for their population. Practical Action has already Country Directors coming from the countries where we work, instead of bringing in expatriates from the North. The next step is to have also the most senior level from a diverse background, reflecting the globe. As Practical Action we work for a couple of senior roles with Oxford HR as they can tap into their wider global network of leaders and are used to find talented people from the South. 

How is Practical Action involved with the Conference of Parties?

At the climate negotiations, our team supported delegates from the global south, offering our expertise and evidence from over fifty years of work with local communities.

As an official observer of the UN Climate Change Conference for the sixth year running, we leveraged that expertise to ensure the needs of frontline communities were front and central to the negotiations.

We are a member of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, a global multi-sector partnership that builds community resilience to floods, a climate and weather related hazard affecting hundreds of millions of people every year. Find out more about what the Alliance is doing at COP on our Flood Resilience Portal.

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’ve always been concerned about social and environmental issues. After watching a documentary at school about the meat supply industry aged 10 or 11 I got home and announced I was going to be vegetarian. It was very unusual in the early 90s and my mum was not impressed! I’m analytical and love a challenge so when I left university I wanted to work in management consulting, but with a purpose, so I worked for a public sector strategy consultancy. After a dramatic, and life-changing, moment when I collapsed while running a marathon, I had a moment of realisation that I needed to more actively campaign for change. So I quit my job and set up a social enterprise. It was tough to get things going but because I was so passionate about it, it didn’t feel like work at all! And it led to some great experiences, like meeting young climate activists from around Europe and being awarded UK social entrepreneur of the year. Three years ago I founded the Clean Air Fund. We’re a philanthropic organisation working with governments, business and campaigners to build a future where everyone can breathe clean air.

How did the commitments made at COP26 serve the clean air agenda?

They didn’t go nearly far enough. As we know, world leaders didn’t make sufficient progress on limiting warming to 1.5°C. For the clean air movement in particular, whilst it was encouraging to see the COP bring the health consequences of fossil fuels and climate change into the discussions, including for the first time a ‘health’ day, it was disappointing that governments didn’t seize the moment to put tackling the air pollution crisis at the heart of climate action. Outside the formal talks, there were some reasons for cheer. Messages from clean air campaigners starting to reach the ears of world leaders. And it was encouraging to see 10 multinationals coming together to launch an Alliance for Clean Air and pledge their commitment to addressing air pollution.

What is the one thing the Clean Air Fund would like to see agreed at COP27?

We want governments to take a joined-up approach to action on climate change and improving air quality. Rather than ignoring air pollution in climate negotiations, we’d like to see an integrated approach because this will unlock gains in public health, climate and inequality.