‘COP26: The Inside Story’ with Ian Fry, veteran negotiator on behalf of the island nation of Tuvalu and the Alliance of Small Island States

Veteran climate change negotiator, Ian Fry, revisits the Glasgow Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention and the Paris Agreement (COP26). In this special LawPod edition, veteran climate change negotiator, Ian Fry, a former representative of the island nation of Tuvalu and the Alliance of Small Island States, revisits the Glasgow Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention and the Paris Agreement (COP26), which took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021. Dr Peter Doran, of QUB Law School, and a senior writer/editor for the IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at UN environmental negotiations, review the highlights of the Glasgow COP, examine the background to some of the big issues, and consider the growing gap between the incremental progress of UN-sponsored responses to the climate emergency and demands for radical system change from civil society. Ian Fry has been at the heart of the UN climate negotiations process for several decades, including negotiations leading up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and played an important role acting as negotiator for the pacific island state of Tuvalu. He takes a close interest in the fate of the small island states and the Least Developed Countries in the negotiations. Dr Doran describes the importance of the small island states as “the conscience of the UN climate change negotiations process”, the indigenous and most exposed people and cultures for whom a failure to achieve climate justice raises the very real prospect of their extinction.  “Madam President, The fate of my country rests in your hands.” Ian Fry, Lead Negotiator for Tuvalu, reduced the ill-fated Copenhagen COP in 2009 to silence as he brought proceedings to a halt in a heartfelt plea for a legally binding agreement.