The first of four online Skuhna Talk debates was held online on 23.11 at 6pm. The debate was co-facilitated by Mahedina Jannat, a Bangladeshi activist and the speaker was Barbara Kvac of Focus, an expert in the field of sustainable development. The one-hour-long debate was exciting and offered us a detailed view of the just ended COP26.
People on every continent are feeling the visceral impacts of global warming. The declared objective of the UK presidency of COP26 of “keeping 1.5C alive” is a definite pipe dream. If states keep their declared commitments, we are looking at a warming of 2.4C or so by the end of the century. Scientists have predicted that such a rise in global temperature would result in further loss of sea ice, accelerated sea-level rise and longer, more intense storms, heatwaves, floods, and droughts.
While the pledge to raise the $100bn annual climate funding promised to vulnerable countries not met, negotiators finally brought discussions around the Paris Agreement “rulebook” to a close.
While delegates were talking (blah blah blah) in Glasgow huge crowds were protesting outside. And this is precisely what may at the end of the day make a difference. We need more and more active citizens, who are going to demand change from decision-makers in as much as we need responsible and informed consumers. Last but not least the Global South peoples should surely understand that relying on commitments from the Global North in such an existential matter is folly, if not outright irresponsible.
The debates were held in the framework of a project co-funded by the Public Fund of Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia