What Role Do Small Island States Play at COP?

The UN climate convention known as COP30 is now underway in Brazil. As the nations of the world gather to discuss their efforts to rein in climate disruption, the facts are clear: we’re not doing enough, fast enough, to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Climate-fueled disasters are increasingly impacting nearly every part of the world.

And in Belém, Brazil, near the heart of the Amazon rainforest where the conference is being held, organizers have promised that Indigenous voices will play a bigger role than in the past. They’ve also billed this as an “implementation COP” where past promises will be turned into action. What practical steps can we hope countries achieve in this year’s negotiations?

Episode Guests:

Ilana Seid, Permanent Representative of Palau to the United Nations; Chair, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

Davi Neustein, Sustainability Consultant; Advisor to Marcelo Behar, COP30 Special Envoy 

Deborah Sanchez, Director, CLARIFI (Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative), Rights and Resources InitiativeFor show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠.

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

00:30 – Voters responding to energy and affordability in most recent election

02:00 – COP30 is happening in Brazil, opening remarks by UN leaders

07:00 – Major items on the COP30 agenda

10:30 – Davi Neustein on deliberate choice to hold COP30 in Belém

14:00 – Brazil can speak to Global South and Global North

19:00 – Neustein’s hopes for the COP30 action agenda

21:30 – Weeks before COP, Brazil approved new oil drilling in Amazon

27:00 – Ilana Seid shares climate impacts to her home nation of Palau

29:30 – What an “implementation” COP means

35:30 – Is there a need for a new narrative around climate change?

42:00 – Deborah Sanchez shares story of securing land rights for her community

47:00 – Example of a project funded through CLARIFI (Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative)

51:00 – How COP goal of elevating Indigenous voices is working out in reality

55:00 – What can we learn from the Amazon and how its managed

56:30 – Climate One More Thing

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