COP27 Regen Notes
Storms, Starlight and the Magic of the Mangrove
The COP27 conference - or world trade fair as it appeared to be - held at Sharm el-Sheikh, a narrow tourist strip, of mostly huge and costly resort hotels between the Red Sea and the Sinai peninsula desert, had a very very different feel to the more community and grassroots COP26. In Glasgow. there was a sense of really working to address the climate issues both within the sessions and across the city, whereas Sharm felt more of a show case expo.
Yet beneath that showcase there is a sinister threat - of the fossil fuel sector (with the largest number of delegates) attempting to rewrite the 1.5 target necessity, to delay and confuse action with greenwash activities. However, at the time of writing we still await the official and agreed outcomes, particularly around Loss and Damage.
Sharm is promoting itself as a ‘green’ city which seems to be a self-proclaimed title and any criticism met with being anti-Egyptian. But arriving into Sharm seemed anything but green - 45,0000 visitors arriving by air (and sadly guilty as being one of those), artificially lit palm trees on the highways, what green grass there is continuously watered (particularly in the resorts), the omnipresence of security, police armed unit and undercover agents who could be one of the large number of cleaner teams.
On a cheerful note, the green zone park display energy was from renewable sources, which at sunset was quite a magical innovative space. And the local Good Water innovation (made of plant materials that use covers made of a biopolymer derived from sugar cane that can be replanted as carbon dioxide-absorbing plants) available throughout the COP areas.
In comparison, the Blue zone felt sterile, many of the nation pavilions underwhelming, with nowhere to meet, talk, or network (lingering not to the liking of Egyptian security maybe)
The problems of overt surveillance, control of meetings, intimidation, lack of food in the Blue Zone, and the state-imposed extortion of higher hotel fees for COP delegates (an eye-watering additional €600 per night) have been well documented - for example in this Guardian article
We were there to present at the UNFCCC1 Action Hub Amphitheatre on Decarbonisation Day with a (Living Future Europe) Storms and Starlight interactive session. And that space did seem a friendlier neutral space. (It is at the core of the Action Hub to hold events that are markedly different from other traditional meetings held at the conference, in both format and content, and provide a central scene that is inclusive, participatory and transparent to non-Party Stakeholders)
Storms or Starlight reflects whether we see fixing problems (Storms) or working with the potentials (Starlight) as our primary course of action.
“And working with nature, truly working with nature, we will find that she can do much of the decarbonisation heavy lifting for us in the built environment”
For my contribution alongside colleagues Amira Ayoub and Carlo Battisti, I did something I have not done for a good while and created a script, not to use during the session as I like to present in a conversational manner, but as I wanted to shape my thoughts to ensure I mentioned key aspects.
This was something a 6-hour flight gives time for. Indeed on the plane out of Manchester to Sharm, there were just too many laptops glowing with presentation slides being fine-tuned - and alarmingly similar. I felt a pang of being in a bubble talking to like-minded folk and travelling far too far to do so.
That script is included below
Outside of COP zones and control, the Old Market Area with wonderful food and plazas busy at midnight with families, tourists and COP people felt more Egyptian.
And the trip for snorkelling in the Red Sea at Ras Mohammed National park, simply stunning. The land and waterscapes of desert, rock, mangroves, coral and tropical fish showed a real natural environment to Egypt - the connection that was lost, or artificially created in the COP zones and the Resort-heavy Sharm. (even promoting trips to the National Park to COP delegates was discouraged)
So was COP27 worth the visit?
- from an experience of witnessing a climate event in a police state and in particular the awesome Ras Mohammed National Park - Maybe.
- from furthering and addressing climate actions, No, and why a global climate blue or green zone needs to accompany the climate talks needs to be deeply assessed.
- from a regenerative perspective - ?? however, the Magic of the Mangroves - The plant that sequesters more CO2 than rainforests - that creates environments suitable for other plants, including rare orchids, as well as insects, birds, lizards and even larger mammals like monkeys and tigers. Mangrove is present around the coast of Egypt and it speaks volumes as to why why there was no mention of this within COP27.
Next year's COP (28) is in Dubai, to which we have been invited by UNFCCC to consider presenting Stars and Starlight again, time will tell what the state of the world from many perspectives is at that time.
There is no pathway to limiting global warming to 1.5C without action on protecting and restoring nature.
Before that, and as important as the Climate COP’s the Biodiversity COP15 to be held Montreal in December where there is the vital call to world leaders to reach an ambitious sister deal for nature similar in ‘influence’ to the Paris 1.5 agreement.
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Script + video links + interactive responses
Thank you for joining us today, with thanks to the UNFCCC Action Hub and to my colleagues Carlo Battisti and Amira Ayoub
It is real pleasure to present here today in the Action Hub, on decarbonisation day, to talk about the built environment, worryingly still 40% of the climate problem and a privilege to bring Living Future Europe to the world COP27 stage
And although decarbonisation day, we have a more holistic view here - one that will enable carbon reduction through becoming nature - positive
GOLFERS SLIDE
We are on the cusp of something wonderfully regenerative - or irreversibly disastrous.
What we thought way into the future is happening now. 2Here in the present
In the words of Guterres, we are on a highway to climate hell.3 with our foot on the accelerator. But that highway on which we are travelling already exists It has been determined, routed and built by others, as has the accelerator pedal.
And even if we slow down, apply the brakes, recycle parts of the vehicle, and use different fuels, we are still heading in that direction.
And sadly our era of sustainability is travelling that same highway.
EGO ECO SEVA SLIDE
Over the last 30 / 40 years or so with a reduce impact approach sustainability has failed to arrest climate change We cannot continue to think we can solve wicked problems with technology alone,
We haven’t to date and are running out of time
Can our sector really continue to use up more fossil fuels while claiming to be serious about addressing the climate crisis?
We need a change in direction, to reset our compasses … to seek potentials, such as emerging nature-based, biogenic materials and being nature positive rather than carbon positive
Seva, such a wonderful Sanskrit word, living in service and harmony with our world, in the words of the harmonious harvest, to take only what we need and use all that we take.4
And it is an inner thing, as much as what we do it is who we are
And that means going on a journey, with others, listening to those who have been marginalised5 and indigenous wisdom that has a far better relationship with our earth.
STRIPES SLIDE (Ed Hawkins warming stripes reversed)
and using our agency The future doesn’t happen, it’s down to us to create it 6
Storms or Starlight
What are the storms we face, and can we problem-solve them? Should we even problem-solve them all Or can we see the potential of Starlight, new opportunities
We need to be asking questions on every decision and every action, on every design, every building, every component
is this regenerative or degenerative,
is this harming or healing,
is this enabling or preventing life to thrive
And importantly in this busy world, we need to give ourselves, and others, the time and space to ask these questions to be mindful and reflective
ANOTHER WORLD SLIDE (from the Regenerative Playbook)
Another world is possible, so lets us dare to be different7
We can have clean air and clear skies. Healthy buildings, regenerative natural life systems and built environments enabling all life to thrive
And working with nature, truly working with nature, we will find that she can do much of the decarbonisation heavy lifting or us in the built environment
The good news there is another route in construction taking us away from the highway to climate hell. In the words of Buckminster Fuller - You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”
“Another world is not only possible, but she is on her way. On quiet days I can hear her breathing.”– Arundhati Roy
Read Regen/Notes Part Two COP27 to COP15
A recording of the session is available through the UNFCCC web pages here
Storms and Starlight - LFE Blog post here
Have you joined the exclusive Regen Notes conversation on the Substack app?
UNFCCC - stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Golfer Image Credit Kristi McCluer see https://www.instapaper.com/read/1555233355
Whenever highway to hell is mentioned, echoes and images of rock anthems appear in my mind - Deep Purple’s Highway Star, or AC/DC’s “Season ticket on a one way ride” and in particular Chris Rea’s Road to Hell, to plant a few ear-worms in readers of a certain era,
On your journey 'cross the wilderness from the desert to the well // You have strayed upon the motorway to hell. /// I'm standing by a river but the water doesn't flow // It boils with every poison you can think of.
Ego Eco Seva see https://fairsnape.com/2021/01/11/ego-eco-seva-revisited/
“… fundamentally unfair”
Also on day 1 Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, criticised industrialised nations for failing the developing world on the climate crisis, in a blistering attack at the Cop27 UN climate talks. (Source Guardian)
“We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution,” she said. “Are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gases from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.”
Ed Hawkins Warming Stripes see https://www.ecosia.org/search/?q=Ed+Hawkins+Warming+Stripes&addon=safari&addonversion=4.2.1.51
The Regenerative Playbook - see https://bit.ly/regenplaybook