Leaders from around the world have come together to discuss solutions for some of the biggest challenges the world faces, including climate change. At the COP27, world leaders will work towards a cleaner, greener planet.
The COP27 goes by many different names, such as the Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties. From November 6 to November 18, these leaders are meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Starting in 1992, these summits usually take place every year, but they had been postponed, like almost everything else in the world, due to COVID-19. The COP that was supposed to take place in 2020 was rescheduled for the next year, 2021.
Climate Change and Human Rights
The fact that the summit is taking place in Egypt draws attention to the countries which are the most vulnerable when it comes to climate change. However, the location also draws attention to another problem Egypt is facing: human rights. Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a political activist, had been arrested 10 years ago for the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. He has been on a partial hunger strike but starting November 6 he will stop drinking even water.
His sister, Mona Seif, says that “He decided that if they’re determined to keep him in prison forever, or until he dies, then at least he will decide the terms of the battle and lead the charge. I can’t ask him to stop what he’s doing.” Supposedly, the leaders, who are joining to discuss solutions to the global climate problems, will have to tiptoe around the fact that an imprisoned activist is going on a hunger-strike, in the country they’re presently in right now.
The COP27 is mainly focusing on three things: reducing carbon emissions, working together to counteract climate change, and funding countries that don’t have enough wealth to fund themselves.
The countries had a goal of keeping global temperatures from rising above 1.5C above what Pre-Industrial Revolution rates were. However, a UN report last month states that temperatures could rise 2.5C by the end of this century.
Hopefully, the countries will be able to work together and solve the problems that envelop the world around us. If we start now, climate change may become a thing of the past.