COP 27 Talks in Sharm El-Sheikh 

by Mikayla Hu (November 13, 2022)

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), also known as COP27, is happening this year between November 6th to the 18th in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Global leaders are gathering to continue their negotiations and to discuss their responsibilities in fighting global warming. Let me brief you on what has been going on and what to expect in the next week.  

Our Main Discussions: Extreme weather and Climate justice 

Extreme weather has been one of the concerns brought forward by speakers. Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, reported the catastrophic floods that impacted 33 million people in Pakistan since June. “Despite seven times the average of extreme rain in the south, we struggled on as raging torrents ripped out over 8,000km of metal roads, damaged more than 3,000km of railway track and washed away standing crops on 4m acres and ravaged all of the four corners of Pakistan,” Shariff said during COP27. Shariff then continued to say “We became a victim of something with which we had nothing to do, and of course it was a manmade disaster.”

The devastating impact of extreme weather is under the topic of“loss and damage” on UNFCCC’s website. This topic seems to have triggered most of the debates, conversations, and negotiations at COP27. The other topic mentioned alluded to during COP27, climate justice, calls for developed nations to take more responsibility and support funding for recovery from natural disasters.  

What else is happening? 

Outside the COP27’s venues, activists have been adopting different approaches, including protests and independent panel discussions, to make the underrepresented voices heard.  

Next week, the summit will move on to further discussions on building resilience and accelerating collaborations. Other events discussing COP27 include Imperial College, where Dr. Caroline Wainwright from Grantham Institute will explore “early warning, anticipatory actions and effective communication for resilience and adaptation,” and how “different stakeholders should take part in making decisions on climate and disaster issues,” according to Imperial’s website. This event starts today at 1 pm and is part of many events that will be held this week and available to watch online.  

Will this two-week collection of seminars, dialogues, and workshops make an impact? Listen to our news editor discuss this on I’Science’s podcast and also learn more about COP27 during the podcast! 

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Mikayla Hu is the Deputy News Editor for I,Science. This post was edited by Gabriella Sotelo.