Observers representing hundreds of groups have warned that being barred from key negotiations could have disastrous consequences for millions of people
As well as criticisms of its chaotic infrastructure and a series of poor organisational decisions, the legitimacy of COP26 – the annual UN climate conference happening right now in Glasgow – is also being questioned due to the fact that certain groups are being excluded from key negotiations.
Observers who represent Indienous, environmental, academic, climate justice, and women’s rights organisations have warned that excluding them from vital decision-making processes could have disastrous consequences for millions of people.
Observers act as informal representatives of the public during negotiations, to ensure that their needs are being heard and, on some level, met. However, their ability to take part and intervene in negotiations on carbon markets, loss and damage, and climate financing has been obstructed during the first week of the summit, according to The Guardian.
“Civil society voices are critical to the outcome of COP, but we’ve not been able to do our jobs. If participation and inclusion are the measure of legitimacy, then we’re on very shaky grounds,” said Tasneem Essop, the executive director of Climate Action Network (CAN) which represents thousands of organisations in more than 130 countries.
Despite the Government claims that the Glasgow summit would be the most inclusive to date, around two thirds of civil society organisations who usually attend COP have not sent representatives due to strict COVID travel rules and Britain’s hostile immigration system.
Of particular concern to observers are the negotiations over carbon trading, in which governments and corporations outline ways in which to reach net zero targets. Eriel Deranger, an observer for Indigenous Climate Action, said: “Without our voices this risks the creation of rules that will continue to violate human, territorial, and spiritual rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
A COP26 spokesperson said: “The UK is committed to hosting an inclusive COP. Ensuring that the voices of those most affected by climate change are heard is a priority for the COP26 presidency, and if we are to deliver for our planet, we need all countries and civil society to continue demonstrating their ideas and ambition in Glasgow.”
However, Dazed reported last week that grassroots women and activists – in particular from Indigenous nations, rural communities, island nations, and across the global south – faced incredible challenges getting to COP26, from insurmountable costs, absurd visa challenges, and failed promises from the UK government to deliver vaccines. The inaccessibility and inequity in whose voices are represented in Glasgow is stark.
Patricia Wattimena, an Indigenous feminist from Indonesia and climate justice programme officer of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development, told Dazed: “These climate negotiations have failed to ensure meaningful participation of grassroots women from the global south, ignoring the intersecting crises we are facing.”
She continued: “If world leaders want to genuinely tackle the climate crisis, COP26 must address the root causes of the worsening climate catastrophe.”
Read more here about the young women activists fighting to make COP26 more feminist.