 | | Carl Nasman | | at COP28, Dubai |
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| | Hello and welcome to Future Earth. We're into our second week here in Dubai, where negotiations at the UN's COP28 climate summit have run into extra time. At the time of writing, we are waiting for a much anticipated agreement on the future of fossil fuel use. Some negotiators at the conference have more stake in this debate than others – not least the young people here to argue the case for their generation and those who come after them. They have been telling me why it matters that their voices are heard. Plus, beyond COP28, we learn about storm resilience in indigenous communities in the Philippines, and how a knitting experiment changed the way we see global warming. |
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| | | CLIMATE CONVERSATION | | The young people arguing for their future |  | | A Fridays for Future protest at COP28 in Dubai, UAE, led by young activists (Credit: Getty Images) |
| COP28 is the largest United Nations climate summit in history by a considerable margin. At times, the gleaming venue in Dubai – packed with more than 97,000 attendees – can feel like a theme park.
But away from the exhibits, food, and gigantic domed light show, the serious business of trying to steer the world onto a course to tackle climate change has been taking place.
In windowless, air-conditioned rooms, negotiators from nearly 200 nations have been poring over documents, line by line – and often word by word. The hope is to deliver an ambitious final agreement that will keep the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels.
Working alongside the seasoned negotiators, however, are some with less experience of these kind of events, but arguably more reason for being there. | | Negotiating for tomorrow | For the second year in a row, a programme run by the UN and the Future Leaders Network has sent a group of around 100 youth negotiators – aged between 18 and their early thirties – to work alongside their countries' delegations. They are the people most likely to bear witness later this century to the full implications of the decisions being taken at COP28.
"What we decide now is going to affect us in the next five to 10 years," Antoinette Moleele, a 31-year-old negotiator from Botswana tells me. "It's critical that we have young people being part of the negotiations… and being part of the decision-making itself." |  | | Negotiators like Naranzaya Batsaikhan, from Mongolia, help bring a crucial perspective from younger generations (Credit: BBC) |
| The programme began last year ahead of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, giving young people from all over the world a six-month crash course ahead of the summit.
"They train you on what is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, what happens at the Conference of the Parties, what are the different negotiating groups, how do you build consensus with 190-plus countries in the same in the same space talking," says 22-year-old Enkhuun Byambadorj from Mongolia, speaking to me in between negotiating sessions.
A recent survey published in the Lancet made clear just what a pressing issue global warming is for young people. Nearly 60% of 16-25 years old said they were very or extremely anxious about the climate. Millions have chosen to make their feelings clear by going on climate strikes across the globe in recent years. | | A long road ahead | Here in Dubai, the youth negotiators have spent long days and nights as part of the teams working towards a final text, which many hoped would include hard-fought language to phase out the use of fossil fuels. It's been frustrating and slow progress.
"We are for a just and equitable transition away from coal, away from fossil fuels," says Byambadorj. "We know we are seeing first-hand the impact of fossil fuels on our communities. And it's imperative that we have the capacity and we have the finances to be able to transition."
Ania Sauku is a youth negotiator for Albania. At 21 years old, she was born the year COP8 was being held in New Delhi, India, in 2002. I ask her why young people should have a say in crafting such an important document.
"Well, the simple answer is because we deserve to," she tells me. "And the more elaborate answer is because young people have already been at the frontlines of climate action for a long time now. They've been the ones that have driven forward climate advocacy into the mainstream, supporting and amplifying the work of scientists and indigenous communities."
One goal of the programme is to train up the climate negotiators of future COP conferences. But after my conversations with them, it's clear they're ready to have their say now.
"We are no longer just the leaders of tomorrow, we are the leaders of today," says Moleele. |
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| | | | | NUMBER OF THE WEEK | | 95% | | The share of the world's electric buses that can be found in China. Find out how the electric bus laid the foundation for China's remarkable EV revolution in Xiaoying You's deep-dive. |
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| | | | TAKE A MOMENT | | A new home for climate refugees | | Bangladeshis who have seen their homes destroyed dozens of times by climate-fuelled cyclones are being built safe new houses. | |
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| | | CLIMATE QUIZ | | The number of climate lawsuits is surging globally. What proportion of climate lawsuits receives a climate-positive ruling? | | A. 55% | | B. 65% | | C. 75% | | Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to find the answer. | |
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| | THE BIG PICTURE | | The floating culture of the Philippines |  | | Floating houses, chapels and animal pens in the marshlands are built on modular rafts that adapt to the rise and fall of the water (Credit: Gab Mejia) |
| | The Manobo indigenous people of the Agusan Marshlands, a sprawling wetland area of rivers, lakes and swamps in the southern Philippines, live much of life on water. Homes, tribal halls, and chapels, like the one pictured, are all built on floating platforms, resilient enough to withstand major storms. In 2012, when a deadly typhoon caused water levels to rise 33ft (10m), so too did the Manobos' homes – and they remained intact. This ancient indigenous building technique could have lessons for adapting to climate change in communities living on water elsewhere. Read Gab Mejia's report from the Philippines for Future Planet. | |
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| | | | BEFORE YOU GO | | • | Delegates to the COP28 climate summit, including the host nation UAE, hoped for a breakthrough on phasing down fossil fuel use as negotiations drew towards their close. It proved a lot harder than thought. Read Georgina Rannard's report for BBC News. | | • | Three young people from India, Uganda and Bangladesh share moving stories of what it is like growing up with the chronic pollution from fossil fuels, and their responses to the problem. Listen to The Documentary Podcast. | | • | How far would you expect an EV to drive on a single charge? As far as on a full tank of gas? Half as far? The answer may help explain why many American drivers still struggle to switch to EVs. Kate Morgan reports for BBC Business. |
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| | News Briefing | | Your guide to the world's top stories, delivered in a daily newsletter. | |
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| | AND FINALLY... | | There are few iconic climate images that began their life in crochet. One such image was born in the form of a knitted blanket not once, but twice. The visualisation in question is known as the "climate stripes". You might have seen them – a barcode-like strip of colours ranging from cool blues on the left, fading into hot yellows, oranges and reds on the right. Each stripe represents the average global temperature from the pre-industrial era on the left, through to today's warmer world on the right. Carla Rosch has the story of how this knitting experiment caught the world's eye. |
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