Press release: Launch of the Multi-Faith/Multi-Sector Alliance for Climate Action (MFSA) at COP27

November 15, 2022

Launch: the Multi-Faith/Multi-Sector Alliance for Climate Action (MFSA). 

Please join us for the formal launch of an innovative new alliance, the Multi-Faith/Multi-Sector Alliance for Climate Action (MFSA). 

The alliance will be a neutral bridge between existing multi-faith actors and their coalitions, and key secular actors (including governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector, civil society organizations, and media).

When: Wednesday, November 16 14h00 (Cairo time)

Where: IFRC Pavilion- Blue zone (beside UNFCCC and Egypt Pavilion) COP27, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.  Online on Youtube: Multi-faith/Multisector Alliance for Climate Action at COP27 

Refreshments.

Interviews can be made available with:

  • Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary, ACT Alliance

MEDIA CONTACT: Simon Chambers, ACT Alliance, WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 or simon.chambers@actalliance.org

A long way to go at COP27

COP27 has reached its halfway point, and there is a long way to go if this conference is to conclude with strong steps forward for climate justice.

“We must not get distracted by technical and procedural discussions,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria. “The parties must keep the needs of the most vulnerable people, including women and girls in all their diversity, indigenous people, and those in developing nations, at the forefront of their negotiations, and the decisions of this COP must provide the finance, voice, and seats at the table for them.”

ACT Alliance is a faith-based organization, and like all faith groups, ACT’s members are present in communities before, during and after disasters, including climate-induced ones.  “Churches and other communities of faith are best placed to know the situation and to be first responders,” said Mattias Soderberg, co-chair of ACT Alliance’s Climate Working Group. “As integral parts of the communities where we work, we know that all people are part of their communities, including youth, women, and indigenous people. Climate resilience requires communities too, and those communities must include the voices of all.”

ACT Alliance notes that there is not enough progress in many workstreams. 

Mitigation- keep your eye on the prize

 A strong, climate justice focused result on mitigation must keep focused on the need to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C.  To achieve this, we must think outside the box, looking at economy-wide emissions cuts, nature-based solutions, locally led processes, and other innovative methods as work to enhance mitigation ambition. We must not allow backtracking of progress so far to keep 1.5 alive, but ensure we keep the bar within reach.

Article 6- human rights at the centre

 Human rights, gender responsive text, and the inclusion of indigenous peoples in the processes are necessary to a good result on Article 6.  In addition, mechanisms must be transparent and clear, avoiding double counting or inclusion of false solutions.

Gender- a weak tea so far

 The text on gender is weak language to date.  States are “encouraged” rather than “urged,”, and the strongest commitments are listed as “voluntary.”  The language must be stronger! It is important that finance is availed to strengthen gender responsiveness in climate action.

“Women and girls did not volunteer to be more impacted by climate emergencies. We want to see their involvement in all levels of leadership and decision-making processes for climate actions”, said Margareta Koltai, policy adviser from Act Church of Sweden.

Adaptation- missing in inaction?

 COP27 was touted as an adaptation and implementation COP, but there has been very little movement on either topic.  The decision to double adaptation funding made at COP26 in Glasgow is a good one, but the question remains of who is benefiting from the funds.  We need good quality adaptation finance flows, with grants rather than loans, and where funds reach the people who need them most: the vulnerable people who have done the least to cause climate change yet face the worst of its impacts.

Finance- 17 billion short and counting

 While we applaud the decision to double adaptation finance, we underscore the importance of funding being new and additional, not being drawn from other incredibly important work, including humanitarian response and ODA.  We call on developed nations to meet their commitment to 100 billion dollars per year, not the 83 billion that Canada and Germany reported in week 1. And we know that the majority of  these billions are loans that much be paid back, and most of the funds are taken from existing aid budgets, leaving less funds for projects supporting education, healthcare and democracy.

“We know that the needs for adaptation and loss and damage will continue to grow, and that 100 billion is not nearly enough,” said Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, Special Envoy for Climate Change of ACT Alliance. “People and communities are impacted by climate induced disasters every day, and support must be available to communities to adapt and recover.”

Loss and Damage- stepping stones to a solution

ACT is pleased that loss and damage was included in the agenda for COP27, but having it on the agenda is not enough.  COP27 must agree to the need for loss and damage finance- new and additional financing, in the form of grants, not loans Once COP27 agrees to the need for finance, work can continue towards COP28.

From deliberation to action

“As we start the second week, we remind our political leadership that we are at a tipping point,” said Julius Mbatia, global climate justice program manager at ACT Alliance. This year’s global climate talks must set decisions that facilitate implementation to secure our planet and the lives of those vulnerable to climate impacts. We need no more failed commitments, shifting blame and burden. It is time we repurpose this process from deliberations to action.”

Media contact

Simon Chambers WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 simon.chambers@actalliance.org

Gender skit at COP27: building a pyramid of images

November 14, 2022

Gender skit at COP27: building a pyramid of images

Join ACT Alliance, Christian Aid and members of other faith-based organisations for a skit with visuals that will show the need for increased gender responsiveness in the negotiations.  Images and stories of women from around the world will be shared, and then used to build a pyramid over a banner calling for gender justice in climate justice.

The stunt will highlight the reality that women and girls are more impacted by climate change, and underscore the need for climate justice to involve the equal participation of women and girls in all their diversity.

When: Monday, November 14 15h30 (Cairo time)

Where: In front of the monolith between the zones

Interviews can be made available with 

  • Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary, ACT Alliance
  • Mariana Paoli, Global Advocacy Lead, Christian Aid

MEDIA CONTACT: Simon Chambers, ACT Alliance, WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 or simon.chambers@actalliance.org

COP27 Blog: Gender seeks a place at the table  

Greater decision-making power and access to information could help African women like Joaquina Jose and her child respond more quickly to climate-induced disasters such as Cyclone Idai, which swept through Mozambique in 2019. PHOTO: Simon Chambers/ACT.

By Margareta Koltai 

At COP27 world leaders are gathered, most of them in dark suits and ties, to negotiate commitments and expected climate actions. Despite the ambitions written on paper and the hours spent in serious discussions, the conclusions are often not enough for those suffering on the frontline of the climate emergency. Leaders from the most politically powerful countries often work to water down agreements and prioritise individual rather than collective interests.  

Under the same roof, most often on the margins, youth, women, people representing vulnerable communities, Indigenous peoples and representatives of island nations are telling stories of the lived realities of climate and gender injustice and calling for action.  

Their stories are similar to the one shared below by Sostina Takare, coordinator of the ACT Zimbabwe Forum. 

Gender discrimination contributes to climate vulnerability 

Sostina met a young girl who survived Tropical Cyclone Idai, which devastated Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi in 2019. The girl’s mother and young siblings all died in the flash flood following the hurricane. She and her father were the only survivors. The girl, her mother and younger siblings had been caught by surprise when the hurricane first hit their home.  

She went looking for her father who had gone out for the evening to meet friends at a bar. The rest of her family waited at home for them to return. Meanwhile the storm got worse, and when the flood arrived, did not have time to escape. However the men in the bar and the oldest daughter were all able to find a safe place. They had been warned of the worsening storm and the risk of floods.  

In a condensed way, the tragic loss experienced by this young girl is a clear illustration of how gender discrimination contributes to vulnerability. According to UNDP the risk of dying in a natural disaster is 14 times higher if you are a women or girl than if you are a man. Those hardest hit by climate injustice are often youth, women, and people representing vulnerable communities.  

African women and girls’ collective demands 

African women and girls launched their collective demands before COP27 because of situations like the tragic story described above. They know that if the family’s’ mother had the power to make decisions, she would not have stayed at home waiting for her husband to return. With greater decision-making power and access to information, she could have saved her own and her childrens’ lives by seeking shelter in time.

The African women who are making COP27 demands do not ask to be saved by others. They ask for equal voice and influence. They request that women and youth, those who are hardest hit by the impacts of a changing climate, have a place at the decision-making tables. Only 34% of COP26 committee members were women. At the G7 Summit in 2021 only one woman was among the decision makers. According to UN Women more than 150 countries still have laws that discriminate against women. 

Women and girls want to be part of the core discussions. They want to contribute to solutions for equitable energy transition, climate finance, land rights, compensation for loss and damage, and just technology with intersectionality and interlinkages across all climate and development work streams.  

Just gender relations 

As people of faith just gender relations are essential for the transforming renewal of church and society. We are called to build just communities for all. This is why Act Alliance supports the UNFCCC’s Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender. At COP27 we really want to see nice words translated from hope into action!  

ACT Alliance COP27 Gender Advocacy Positions 

  • Mainstream gender-responsive and transformative climate finance, disaster risk measures, and adaptation and mitigation actions into policies, programming and practice.  
  • Increase international climate financing to address loss and damage and adaptation, provided as grants, not loans. 
  • Translate the Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender (adopted at COP25) into direct action and fund implementation of the 5-year Gender Action Plan (2020-2025).  
  • Support implementation of gender-related decisions and mandates in the Convention, with clear, agreed goals, targets, and budgeting, which is monitored and transparently reported. 
  • Climate finance must be new and additional, not taking funds from other important development and human rights work  

 Margareta Koltai is the Policy Adviser for Climate Justice at Act Church of Sweden.  She is at COP27 this week.

 

 

COP27 Blog: A call to support local climate action 

By Rajan Thapa

COP27’s theme is “Together for Implementation.” Since the first COP 30 years ago, vulnerable populations and countries have fought valiantly to adapt to the effects of climate change, yet their voices are still not heard. Vulnerability to climate change has added another degree of stress to countries such as mine. Vulnerable communities in Nepal have been using local knowledge and practices to adapt to changing economic, ecological, and social dynamics caused by a changing climate. Unfortunately, such local practices have had very limited attention.  

At COP26, global leaders and funders announced the mobilisation of more than USD 450 million to implement locally led approaches to building climate resilience. But there is limited information on how much has been mobilised so far and what the activities are on the ground. To better understand the knowledge of local people on climate change and adaptation, study was launched in Nepal.  The result is “Locally Led Adaptation; A Call for Local Action,” available at COP27.  

The study found that most local communities were familiar with the term “climate change” and had experienced its impacts. They included drought; extreme and unpredictable rainfall; landslides; flooding; inundations; increasing temperatures; shorter winter periods; the continued reduction of agricultural productivity; and siltation. Respondents shared examples of the impacts on their lives, such as drought resulting in a walk of 1.5 to 2 hours to fetch drinking water. As well, the impact on agriculture and threats to their socio-cultural traditions were documented.  

The study also identified some very interesting local adaptation practices. Communities in Dailekh have built solar water-lifting schemes to supply drinking and irrigation water. They built plastic ponds in fields to collect rainwater, which allows them to irrigate during the dry season. They were found to practice drip irrigation for off-season vegetable farming and were sowing hybrid seeds and restoring forests to allow water to be replenished.  

In Bardiya, Rajapur, collective efforts were quite visible. Communities cleaned the irrigation canal just before the monsoon and constructed bio-check dams to prevent flooding. The Badghars, locally recognised community leaders, were hugely influential in mobilising the community to operate an early warning system during emergencies. They also developed plans, including for adaptation.  

Communities in Kanchanpur have introduced various nature-based solutions. These include ecosystem-based adaptations such as restoring ponds and forests; planting alternative cash crops, such as lemons, bananas and medicinal herbs; and managing community forests. Yet local initiatives such as these, with the potential to be integrated into local adaptation strategies and programmes, have received very little attention from local government.  

Local communities and their institutions, which include forest user groups, women’s groups, youth groups, Indigenous groups, and the Badghar, must be included by local government in addressing climate change vulnerabilities. However, this was not the case in the study area. Building their capacity to improve and share their local knowledge will improve their ability to meet the challenges of building resilience. 

Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) and its core principles are meant to assist communities in developing and implementing solutions by enabling, fostering, and using their enormous potential for innovation. Nepalese communities are, in fact, developing locally driven solutions for local adaptation plans. These are meant to assist communities in adapting to the effects of climate change. The challenge of the decade remains how to support and finance initiatives promoting climate resilience. 

LLA and its significance has gained attention on a global scale. I hope that at this COP over the next few days governmental and non-governmental organisations will recognise and find ways to adequately support locally led adaptation. Going forward, I hope donor organisations and development partners will increase their funding through easily accessible mechanisms. 

The report can be downloaded here.

Rajan Thapa is the Climate Action Advisor with DanChurchAid in Nepal. DanChurchAid is an ACT Alliance member. 

COP27 Blog: The Climate Vortex – The Life of an ACT COP27 Delegate  

Dr. Marianna Leite (r) joins a Sherlock-style detective in the search for climate finance at COP27. PHOTO: Albin Hillert/LWF

By Dr. Marianna Leite

Today is Friday the 11th of November and we are reaching the end of the first week of COP27.  By now, most people are overwhelmed with news about the Summit taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh but also rather curious about what is happening and what will ultimately be its outcome. Based on my experience as one of the co-coordinators of the ACT Alliance delegation to COP27, I’d like to give a flavour of what it’s like to be a participant and what lies ahead of us. 

Checking in and checking out 

ACT has a diverse, gender-equal and regionally balance delegation for COP27. We are part of a wider ecumenical delegation which we co-lead jointly with the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. We have an ’insider’ and ’ousider’ track of delegates that help us strategise internally from the venue and online from elsewhere. This means that we have quite strong cohort of people that share the same values and drive for climate justice. 

Everyday we meet to look at the official agenda according to themes/expertise as well as the side events, actions and related activities. We divide the responsibilities amongst ourselves and then report back on the main achievements and points of tension at the end of the day.  

Dividing and Conquering 

Instead of following the same events and activities, we try to ‘divide and conquer’. We connect with the different like-minded groups and support those that are part of negotiations.  

This does not come without challenges. The Wi-Fi in the venue is patchy making the connection with our fellow online delegates difficult and, at times, frustrating. The venue is huge and its layout is not exactly intuitive, meaning that many of us spend a lot of time looking for rooms and often getting lost. 

Getting basic things done like eating and going to the bathroom is a challenge. There are huge lines everywhere, limited options and, well, a general sense of disorientation.  

The silver lining 

This is not an easy space or context to operate in but, in a way, the massive civil society mobilisation can be seen as the silver lining. Like other groups, ACT has organised media ’stunts’ calling attention to our asks and the asks of those missing voices at COP27. In one of those stunts we acted out detectives looking for missing loss and damage financing. I never fail to be impressed and inspired by the energy and passion brought by the different ACT delegates and partners. Their successes in driving transformative and structural messaging, their relentless work and unwavering dedication to climate justice demonstrates that ’united we can and will overcome this massive crisis’. 

The (steep) road ahead 

What’s next? Well, we are still looking for the missing climate finance! Many countries have announced pledges which, although encouraging from a political perspective, are not anywhere near the level of finance needed to address the current challenges.

Stay posted for outcomes after week two at COP27.

Dr. Marianna Leite is ACT Alliance’s Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager. She attended the first week of COP27 in Egypt. Stay posted for more reporting on outcomes following week two.    PHOTO: Dr. Marianna Leite.          

COP27 Blog: ACT Ethiopia Forum tackles patriarchy and the climate crisis

Ethiopia: Members of the Tesfa (‘hope’) self-help group for women, which undertakes community banking to raise women’s economic status and independence. PHOTO: Albin Hillert/LWF

“Ethiopia is a patriarchal society,” says Dawit Beza, coordinator of the ACT Ethiopia Forum (AEF) and staff with Norwegian Church Aid. “We have very bad gender-based violence.”   

The combination of a patriarchal society and the impact of the climate crisis in Ethiopia has meant that the burden of the climate crisis falls disproportionately on rural women and girls. “They are highly affected,” says Bikila Abeya of AEF member EECMY-DAASSC.  

“Collecting water and firewood is 100 percent the responsibility of women and girls,” says Dawit. “Because of deforestation, because the water table is dwindling, the burden on women is much higher.”  Where it once took 20 minutes for a woman or girl to fetch water, it might now take an hour. 

Agriculture  

In Ethiopia, the main source of livelihood is agriculture. Because of climate change, rain patterns have changed, the temperature is rising, and the moisture of the soil has decreased, leading to lower agricultural productivity. 

“Women are the ones who are responsible to feed their family,” says Bikila. “They are also the ones with very low opportunity for non-agricultural incomes.” While women may occasionally participate in small-scale businesses such as selling crafts, whenever agricultural productivity decreases, their livelihood options also decrease.  

Education  

Lower agricultural production combined with patriarchy affects girls’ educational opportunities. “Women are the less educated ones in Ethiopia,” says Bikila. “Education is mainly meant for men.” When lower agricultural productivity leads to lower household incomes, the family withdraws female children from school, prioritising the education of boys.  

Without an education, women rarely participate in formal employment.  “Women are the ones who shoulder the burden of the climate change impact,” says Bikila. “That’s why we say climate change disproportionately affects women.” 

Integrating Gender Justice and Climate Justice in Ethiopia 

“Climate change and gender justice are really inseparable,” says Bikila. The ACT Ethiopia Forum recently completed a major study exploring how to integrate gender justice into its climate justice work and that of various levels of the Ethiopian government. The report, Ethiopia: Nuances of the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan and its policy recommendations have been presented to Ethiopian government officials. 

The ACT Ethiopia Forum has been engaged in building the capacity of its members on the basic principles of gender justice. “We have a male-dominant society, and people don’t understand these issues. It’s about translating, helping people to understand,” says Dawit.  “We want to translate gender justice into the activities of the members.” 

“In all the interventions we are planning, gender justice is very, very important,” he adds. “We’re just at the beginning. I am very optimistic our work will bring some visible change.”

This article is taken from a longer ACT interview with Bikila Abeya and Dawit Beza in December 2021, following COP26. A short version of the interview is here: https://actalliance.org/act-news/its-good-to-swim-together-act-ethiopia-delegates-reflect-on-cop26/

 

The Collective Road to Sexual and Reproductive Justice

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance General Secretary  

I am writing this blog from Zanzibar, where I am gathering with fellow High-Level Commission members to launch our new report. The report published today charts some of the gains and gaps in the progress of the 12 Global Commitments contained in the Nairobi Statement on ICPD25. 

Central to the report is a call for sexual and reproductive justice, which emphasise the importance of locating women’s reproductive choices within a broader analysis of the racial, economic, cultural, and structural constraints on women’s agency and power. 

In 1994, the year that saw the adoption of the historic ICPD Programme of Action, a collective of 12 Black feminists coined the term “reproductive justice”, transforming the narrow “pro-life versus pro-choice” debate dominating reproductive, economic and social rights discourse in the United States of America.   

While ‘reproductive justice’ is not founded by religious traditions, the concept of justice is intrinsically part of our faith tradition, which also includes dignity, ethics, self-determination, liberation, and autonomy. Justice is embedded in sacred texts and enables people of faith to better understand the interconnected injustices that undermine human rights and dignity.   

I believe we are called not to work only for individual rights, ‘my body, my choice’, but for sexual and reproductive justice, which emphasises the communitarian. This is especially important in many of the southern contexts, including my own in Brazil, which has still many community-oriented spaces, often communitarian organised life, in groups, and associations.  

One of the key recommendations of the report launched today calls for a broader engagement with faith-based leaders and organisations. We know that eighty-four per cent of the world’s population identify as members of a faith group, and that faith principles and religious and traditional leaders shape social norms and values, while also influencing government policies and practices. 

A narrow version of religion, in particular Christianity, is often mobilised and instrumentalized in global policy arenas, which has blocked progress on achieving universal and inter-dependent human rights: “Whenever religion enters the public sphere and becomes powerful in politics, it tends to orbit around gender issues. Patriarchal gender norms are packaged in the language of religion because it legitimises them. It makes them appear divinely ordained and unchangeable.” (Khalaf-Elledge 2021).  

The role of traditional and religious leaders and faith-based organisations is key in ensuring the rights and needs of people in communities are upheld and met. Our ACT Alliance Gender Programme is working closely with our members and national and regional forums, to harness the value-based power of faith actors. For example, investing in new faith narratives/theologies for reproductive justice, confronting rising fundamentalisms, and advocating for and contributing to the implementation of Comprehensive Sexual Education. 

We hope that the report launched today illuminates a path forward to achieve the ICPD25 commitments through a sexual and reproductive justice framework. The road to sexual and reproductive justice is long and the stakes are high. There are no quick fixes. Yet, it is critical that we continue to move forward, and not give ground to those who want to push women’s rights back.  

 

 

Media Release: Ecumenical partners’ COP27 side event on adaptation finance 

Media Release 

Ecumenical partners’ COP27 side event on adaptation finance 

Join ecumenical partners for this COP27 side event on the urgent need for climate finance to reach vulnerable communities now and in the future. Delivering the promise: how to ensure future adaptation needs are addressed will explore what is needed to transition the global finance system to meet these communities’ needs.  

Delivering the promise: how to ensure future adaptation needs are addressed 

Date: Friday, 11 Nov 2022. 11:30-13:00 CAT (UTC+2) 

Location at COP27: Tutankhamun Room.   

Online link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdg4Fk6cSHs 

Moderator: Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, ACT Goodwill Ambassador Climate Justice  

Speakers: 

Maureen Goodman, Brahma Kumaris UK 

Maro Maua, LWF COP27 delegate 

Patricia Nyinguro, IPCC Focal Point, Kenya 

Kebal Bhandari, National Planning Commission, Nepal 

Jocabed Solano, Theologian and activist, Gunadale Nation, Panama 

Rev. Dr. Lesmore Ezekiel, All Africa Conference of Churches 

 

 

 

 

COP27 Blog: Young people and Climate Justice

By Emma Berglund, Lauri Heikkinen, Patricia Mungcal 

Young people including these COP27 delegates, two from Changemakers, bring energy and new ideas to global climate work. PHOTO: Simon Chambers/ACT.

Young people have long been a driving force behind social change for a better world, with every generation owing much to those who came before. Today, climate change represents the most momentous challenge of our age.  

The concept of climate justice, an equitable sharing of the burden caused by a changing climate, is a crucial part of the way forward as we try to navigate our way through a changing climate. Emissions per capita in the Global South represent a fraction of those of the Global North. Those who have polluted the most are exacerbating the problems felt in parts of the world less able to respond to those problems. 

Extreme weather events are more and more frequent and ever larger swathes of the world are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. By 2050, an estimated 216 million people are expected to be displaced due to climate change, according to the World Bank. (https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/09/13/climate-change-could-force-216-million-people-to-migrate-within-their-own-countries-by-2050) 

Young people are living their lives and building their futures in an environment of increasing uncertainty and risk, contemplating a world of hazards and even the existential risk posed by the climate crisis. This must come with proper representation in places where consequential decisions are made, including COP27.   

While young people may, for the moment, lack experience and technical expertise, we have a wealth of knowledge and lived experience. We know how our lives and those of our peers around the world are affected by climate change.  We can offer fresh ideas on how to tackle the climate crisis, and think beyond traditional political and economic constraints. Those who will live with the consequences of decisions made today should be heard in earnest. 

It would be a mistake to claim that young people have fallen into the trap of inaction in the face of exclusion. All across the world, young people have ingenious and inspiring ways of fighting back in the face of a challenge that is truly momentous. But young people are tired of having to justify the importance of being heard when their future is being discussed. What should be self-evident is instead cause for campaigning, even in the face of ever more targets being missed and pledges forgotten. This cannot be. The presence of young people and those who come after us must be built into institutional mechanisms instead of being seen as a mere afterthought or a convenient photo opportunity. 

As the ACT Alliance Youth CoP, we feel that the role of young faith actors and leaders in driving change cannot be overstated. Our power to mobilise communities must be recognized and put to good use in the fight against climate change. The traditions we represent can contribute meaningful moral, economic, spiritual and social substance to public debates and deliberations.   

Faith leaders also have a crucial role to play in taking action. We must use our platform and leverage to educate and advocate for climate justice. We must now face up to what we have lost and will continue to lose, while making the best of a bad situation. Climate finance that properly accounts for loss and damage is urgently needed. 

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” (Jeremiah 2:7) 

If we are truly the custodians of this planet, we must step up and assume our role and all that it entails. Creation is not for us to lay waste to. Change is possible, but can only happen through action. 

In the spirit of taking action, the Youth CoP has launched the Climate Caravan, aimed at highlighting stories of hope from young people, both in the Global North and South. Fear is understandable, but it is important to channel that fear into something concrete.  

Emma Berglund, Lauri Heikkinen and Patricia Mungcal, co-chairs of ACT’s Youth Community of Practice (CoP) wrote this article. Follow their COP27 activities on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACTYouthcop