The planet is up against centuries of the worst qualities of human nature abused by the international economic, political and legal systems that pander to, protect and reward these traits. So, one has to ask: is there any point in having COP negotiations when each is doomed to failure thanks to a flawed system?
The qualities that supercharged humanity’s rapid transition from hunter gatherers into the ruthless species that squanders its resources – and shamelessly enslaves its own in pursuit of short term pleasure and power for a few – is confronted by the consequences of our ancestors having taken this evolutionary route. Fortunately, we have the scientific knowledge, self-awareness and spirituality to see and understand what is happening and what needs to be done.
A virtual and vital first step for global inclusion
COP – under the auspice of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) – has never been open to the general public. Also, intergovernmental agencies (IGO) and non-government agencies (NGO) were required to attend in person. However, using the benefits of virtual technology the UNFCCC for the first time embraced inclusion and permitted online observers, enabling more than 3,000 globally to move between the meetings. It’s still a long way to go before virtual technology begins to translate into any significant influence over outcomes but, nonetheless, a vital first step was taken to demonstrate the possibilities.
As an approved NGO with observer status the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) attended COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in person as well as virtually. This year RMetS, as were all other NGOs and IGOs, was allowed 10 virtual observers.
The RMetS’s team was led by Professor Liz Bentley, the society’s Chief Executive Officer. I had the privilege of being selected as one of her 10 virtual observers representing the RMetS at COP29.
The road to Belém must be unique in every sense of the word
For meaningful online participation at the forthcoming COP30 by civic societies from the four nations of the UK, would need to have work begin immediately in order to build the framework. For this to happen Westminster must work in partnership and enable the process through the devolved governments. This is about power sharing. It cannot follow the previous pattern of token involvement of NGOs, sub-state, other such groups.
The months ahead need to be used to develop this process, with the widest possible public buy in through citizens assemblies, organised down to the most local and inclusive of levels. It will be a costly and complicated process which will be a difficult learning curve for everyone involved.
Operationally, by COP30 people need to be comfortable with channels of communication into national government delegations by the citizens assemblies. This is absolutely vital importance of civic society being able also to be at the heart of the negotiations which determine the final text for what is agreed at the COP. That needs ideally to be the normal in as many as possible of the 196 or so ‘Party’ nation states.
Nothing short of this commitment will be enough to counter balance decades of fossil fuel lobbying of governments at previous COPs.
Seeking reliable analysis amid the cannon fodder of news
A lot has been written about COP29. I have found the daily reports from Earth Negotiations Bulletin (International Institute for Sustainable Development – IISD) some of the most useful. In particular, the much longer, detailed analysis of what had been achieved, which IISD got out just two days after COP29 concluded. I’ve pulled together extracts from what I’ve written during COP29.
Much of the COP process is very technical and full of legalese. That’s unavoidable if there’s to be any chance of nations coming anywhere near being required to comply with what they’ve agreed to. The downside is, of course, that part of the proceedings will always be inaccessible to most people. This makes the role of intermediaries who can be trusted so important.
Listening to various media reports it was possible to pick up very early on how cleverly China was positioning itself, in the eyes of much of the rest of the world, ahead of the impending Trump presidency.
COP30 to be held at Belém in the Amazon basin
COP30 in Belém Brazil comes 10 years after the Paris Agreement. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known mononymously as Lula, in response to ”civic society” and ”youth” in Brazil, has called for this to be the first ever truly ‘People’s COP’.
This is a bold and, for Brazil, risky move. It brings the people and state potentially into a head-on conflict with the fossil fuel, deforestation, mining, and other interests wanting to exploit the Amazon basin and estuary. That is why it’s so urgent that civic society, globally, comes out in support of this ambition for COP30.
President Lula and the people of Brazil need all governments to start engaging with their people in order that the build up to COP30 is structured in a way that is underpinned by a presumption that redistribution of the power balance, essential for the tackling of the climate and nature crises is happening.
A fundamental waste of time or one last chance at a People’s COP30
At the heart of any solution has to lie a sense that it is really all worth it. That there is greater existential satisfaction through being part of a healthy and wellbeing driven economy rather than one built upon profligate, extractivist, egocentric consumerism.
COPs are fundamentally a waste of time so long as thousands of lobbyists from the fossil fuels, armaments and other exploitative industries and corporations have unfettered access to our elected representatives, civil servants, police, military and security services. In the UK, Conservative laws, unrepealed thus far by Labour, make it increasingly hard – even dangerous – to publicly protest and challenge those who ignore the climate crisis.
We need to share the Brazilian vision for a People’s COP. A vision that is structured so that COP30 empowers those with the scientific, social and political understanding steer the conference toward unravelling the fundamental causes of climate change.
Everything else is tinkering around the edges and green washing as defined by those with vested interests in the status quo.
Thus the need to demand that multiple forms of citizens/people assemblies, empowered by their national governments, should be used to disperse current governmental executive power in the build up to COP30. These ‘best available science’ informed assemblies cannot be corrupted by those who have exploited the existing’system’ to become obscenely wealthy and powerful.
The time to do something is now, not to wait for COP30
This is a call to recognise the interconnectedness of all the causes and solutions to the present climate and biodiversity crises.
Scotland is a microcosm of the global problems of human beings’ relationship with the surface of our planet. The extreme concentration of the ‘ownership’ of land into so few hands in Scotland typifies the global problem of legal systems that evolved to benefit the already wealthy and powerful at the expense of the exploited.
Let’s hope that the years’ process. that is due to culminate in COP30 – 10 to 21 November 2025 – in Belém Brazil, will see everyone go far beyond what had previously been thought possible, to ultimately address the root causes of our terrifying predicament.
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