COP26 Report Summary

By Brayden S. White.

From October 26th to November 10th. I had the privilege and opportunity to travel to Glasgow, Scotland to attend COP26. I arrived a few days before the official COP26 opening day as I was attending preliminary meetings with the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) Facilitative Working Group. The Facilitative Working Group is comprised of 14 representatives, half of which are representatives of Parties, and half of which are representatives from indigenous peoples organizations with the goal of implementation of its three functions related to knowledge, capacity for engagement, and climate change policies & actions.

Being able to attend the meetings with LCIPP was amazing and it assisted me in jumping into COP and what to expect in the coming days. I was able to learn more about Article 6, which states, “Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality” and ensuring the proper wording was included to get the result we were looking for. In addition to this, I learned more about how the fossil fuel industry and climate change is causing the displacement of Indigenous peoples across the globe.

I had the honor of being selected to attend the World Leaders Summit and being able to watch the Opening Ceremonies and Heads of State Speeches. I found the event to be both informative as well as eye-opening as the remarks in my opinion were not as sharp as I would’ve expected them to be. I found much of the remarks to be bleak and honest yet, with an air of ‘we could be doing better but there’s things that we cannot say but it is evident that all who are attending know of said obstacles.’

I believe one of these obstacles could be the industries that each country feels obligated to protect whether it be the timber or oil industry. Each country knows that without said industry, their economy could collapse, so the country will take industry over environmental impact to sustain itself.

I was invited to attend a session with the UK COP Presidency, in which I stressed the importance of having a dedicated session with the Indigenous youth. I find the dedicated session with Indigenous youth to be a vital component because it is our future that is being gambled during the discussions at COP and Indigenous people have always been documented to face some of the harshest effects of climate change. Although we do wholeheartedly appreciate the discussion with all the Indigenous people, one with the youth would produce strong results, which would not be overshadowed.

I also had an opportunity to attend a meeting with Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, Jonathan Pershing. I found the meeting to be productive and Pershing to be quite receptive to the issues we brought forth. He made it known that he did not want the meeting to be a “one off” meeting, which would end there. He wanted to make sure there are follow-up meetings to continue dialogue and continue to strategize solutions for the future. He reaffirmed that he would like to put forth a commitment to build strong and concrete relationships with Tribal Representatives.

The following day, I attended a panel which included United States Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. The session was on engaging Indigenous youth, hearing their concerns and offering solutions to the issues mentioned. Secretary Haaland made note that everybody in her Administration is doing everything in their power to fight back against climate change. In addition to that she acknowledged that there must be a commitment put forth from the Biden administration to the youth that they will do everything to ensure that youth will still have a future. She said this commitment can be accomplished through bringing youth to the table and taking direction from the youth on how climate change and global warming should be approached.

On my last official day at COP26, I was selected to attend remarks being given by Former President of the United States, Barack Obama. I found his remarks to be partially passive through his applauding of the small efforts that have been put forth while offering sharp criticism that we aren’t doing enough at a consistent speed to produce significant changes.

I found this approach to be received well by the attending States because he didn’t come in pushing the severity of climate change directly but rather by acknowledging that States are putting forth effort and any effort is better than no effort but also turning up the heat to say that more should be being done. He seemed to really push the narrative that we can no longer settle for the bare minimum in hopes that it will bring about change, we must act strongly and act now.

It was an excellent trip, which helped me learn how the States interact on the world stage. I got to see how the process works and learned that many motions that are passed are not implemented immediately, but rather over the following COPs. I really enjoyed my time and would like to thank each and every person who granted me this opportunity and helped me throughout my travels to Glasgow and back.