Greta Thunberg has described climate summits like COP27 — taking place in Egypt next week — as a “scam”. As an activist, I see her point. These massive conferences achieve nothing unless those who go actually commit to financing the changes that we need.
COP27 — which is said represents the world’s last best chance to limit global warming to 1.5C by turning the Paris commitments into action and helping build a sustainable future for all — is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh. And it has been in the news, not because we are embarrassed that the host country has the largest number of women and girls who have undergone FGM and still refuses to lock up their abusers, but because our Prime Minister had said he was not going to attend.
I know Rishi Sunak and I think he’s going to be a great Prime Minister. I voted for him during the summer and I know more floating voter friends who would vote for him than anybody else. And I don’t think it matters whether the Prime Minister attends COP27 or not, though it looks like he may now do so. The reality is that climate change is brutal: I have seen the devastating drought gripping my birth country of Somaliland. The issue isn’t about making pronouncements, but funding them.
That doesn’t necessarily just mean oodles of cash. Last week I was in Israel where I saw the role that technology can play in combatting climate change.
It was a galaxy away from world leaders posing for photos on stages. In the fight for equality the Suffragettes asked for “deeds, not words”, and I echo that in a call for funding, not selfies, when it comes to climate change.
I hope Rishi is not bullied into going to COP27 and if he does I hope he gets out his calculator and tells world leaders how much they owe it to the poorest in the world to address the issues we are responsible for.
We have a great representative in Alok Sharma already attending. He ran COP26 last year and I trust him to make the deals that will ensure the UK keeps leading the way on the issues that matter. Of course, we also need to pay attention outside these big events.
Those of us who work in development are sick of people acting like they care when the camera is on and turning away when the attention has moved on.
I have been attending the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) — a principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Just like with climate change, world leaders turn up, give a speech, take a photo and nothing changes. CSW has been around since the Forties and I can tell you that if it was cancelled today nothing would change.
We just cannot risk people seeing COP like this. Our lives and this planet depend on us doing something and not obsessing over triviliaties instead of actual delivery.
In other news...
The Somali Week Festival ended yesterday — and it marked a new high point for the diaspora. I was privileged to attend a screening of The Gravedigger’s Wife, directed by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, which was showing throughout the week. The Somalian community gets a fair share of negative coverage and many only think of war when they hear the word Somali, but the reality is that we are deeply rooted in the arts. The Somali language has only been written down since the birth of my mum.
Before that, our language — which I am proud to speak — was passed down through stories, songs and poems, creating a culture of community around campfires and conversations under trees. If you have ever met a British Somali you will also know that we have some of the best banter and it was great to be back in rooms full of life after the struggles of Covid.
