Youth Up The Pressure at COP27

Reporter: Talia Riad and Ahmed Dash (@TaliaTiad @ahmedfoad0)

 

The 2022 United Nations Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Sharm el Sheikh, commonly referred to as COP27, is counting on youth to push for stronger commitments and voice their initiatives to tackle climate change.

 

Omnia El Omrani is the first-ever Youth Envoy selected by the COP27 President, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, to promote the interests of youth by directly negotiating with policymakers. She is an activist, community leader and medical resident at Ain Shams University.

 

Omrani says that it’s important that the conference is being held in Africa as it is the most vulnerable continent to climate change.

 

“We are disproportionately impacted for food, water, and security. Extreme weather events as a result of climate change such as cyclones, hurricanes, and floods happen in African countries. At the same time, we are the least contributors to climate change,” Omrani said.

 

Health care facilities, infrastructure and business sectors in Africa incur significant damage when such climate patterns hit.

 

However, the continent’s total carbon emissions are less than 4%, which is why COP27 gives Africa the opportunity to be a priority in the global discussion, Omrani explains.

 

“For the first time in the history of COP, loss and damage is an agenda force,” Omrani said. 

 

COP27 is also being referred to as the Implementation COP – all participant states have to commit to addressing the losses. What’s currently being proposed is a finance facility to fund loss and damage. 

 

“Implementation in this COP is about what countries have done, what they’re going to do, and how we can increase [that] ambition. But most importantly, how can we bring in climate justice?” Omrani said.

 

She says it’s time to shift focus to real action. In 2020, all countries submitted their NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). Each country had specific policies they were capable of working on. COP27 will provide the first opportunity to assess the progress achieved to reach the NDCs.

 

Omrani sounds a sobering reminder that the Paris Agreement was adopted seven years ago but since then few targets have been met. Time is running out to keep negotiating.

 

“Developing countries cannot be asked to commit the same way as developed countries. We need funding, we need support. The biggest debate now is climate finance at the scope…This is why African countries at this COP are calling for doubling the finance adaptation by 2025,” Omrani told The Caravan.

 

This is where the common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR), which all countries agreed in the Paris agreement, comes in.

 

Last year in Glasgow, many countries made financial commitments for the netzero coalition (net-zero carbon emissions) transition, which is a good business model according to Omrani. However, countries most affected by climate change don’t have any funding to cope with the rise of sea level, extreme heat, environmental hazards, and the effects on food, water and security. 

 

“Historically, the developed countries industrialized so they already made a profit out of all the carbon emissions which developing countries are now suffering from. With the global energy crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war, it’s becoming an excuse wealthy countries are using not to stick to the commitments made at the Paris Agreement,” Omrani said. 

 

She calls on the most industrialized countries to come together to help African states adopt green initiatives to protect public health from the catastrophic impact of climate change. 

 

In the meantime, COP27 has come a long way from its debut in 2009, when youth voices were absent.

 

There is a full constituency of youth  now that are empowered to deliver statements, lobby states, institutions, and push countries to commit.

 

“Many people say it’s not important for us to be here,” Omrani said, but stubbornly adds, “We need to be here. As youth, we are the biggest demographic. We are four billion around the world.  It is our future, it is our health on the line. Our voices need to be there because we bring in the urgency, we bring in the pressure, we bring in the seriousness of taking climate action.” 

 

She feels that youth can incentivize states to take faster and more impactful action because they are the group disproportionately affected.

 

Jeremy Hopkins, the Head of UNICEF in Egypt, agrees. 

 

“Young people’s voices must be heard directly by the negotiators so that we can take on board innovative thinking and creativity. They are the voices who have the biggest stakes in the future,” Hopkins said. 

 

One billion children, most of whom are in Africa, are considered to be at risk of climate change hazards. 

 

“They are only going to inherit the planet. They bear no responsibility for carbon emission and global warming. Yet the decision we make today will have a dire impact on the rest of their lives,” he told The Caravan.

 

Hopkins had just released a report titled The Coldest Day of The Rest of Their Lives because everyday is the coldest day of a child’s life due to global warming. Hopkins finds it imperative that children and young people be at the center of discussion for that reason. 

 

He stresses the importance of equipping youth with green skills if the development of poor states is to be accomplished without fossil fuels.

 

“If we don’t adapt our social services to the changing climate then we’re missing an enormous opportunity. We have to do that using a cadre of young people who are moving into the job market with the right skills for a green economy as well as enormous investment from wealthier states to develop economies in the green way,” Hopkins said. 

 

Environmental awareness remains a real challenge, says Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine El Kabbag.

 

“Civil society is a main pillar for raising awareness because we don’t have a lot of NGOs for environmental issues,” Kabbag said. 

 

It doesn’t only fall on the Ministry of Environment to educate the masses but the media and the public sector. There is already the wa3y (awareness) program supporting the rational use of water. 

 

Egypt has increased the budget for health and education from EGP 6.6 to EGP 26 billion to raise awareness and partner with NGOs to counter environmental losses, which the poor are typically more affected by. 

 

“It’s not about keeping children alive, it’s about raising children’s quality of life,” Kabbag told The Caravan.

 

To realize such aspirations, the world needs to come to agreement about the urgency of tackling climate change head-on, says Hopkins.

 

“This conference is a moment in time … that brings together world leaders to negotiate around climate change.”