“Our country is sinking! My homeland could be one of the first nations to be wiped off the map due to climate change. But we won’t give up. We will fight!”
With these words, Kausea Natano, Prime Minister of Tuvalu, brought home to COP27 the reality of climate change for her people. The world’s addiction to oil, gas and coal threatens to swallow the land of her country under the warming seas – inch by inch. Will her appeal be headed?
“The time has come to make peace with the planet. To deliver vulnerable nations the long overdue funding needed to cope with the loss and damage incurred from climate disasters and to make polluters pay.” Says the Prime Minister of Tuvalu.
“The time has come to make peace with the planet.”
Kausea Natano, Prime Minister of Tuvalu,
Tuvalu is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean and is highly vulnerable to sea level rise due to climate change. Meanwhile, Heads of State strut their stuff on the world stage, each outbidding the other over “how much they are doing” to combat climate change. The Prime Minister of the UK is no exception, yet he dithered over whether to put in an appearance. Sadly, domestic politics get in the way of real progress internationally. Mr Sunak has other worries about the state of UK finances. Sadly, rising inflation outflanks rising sea levels and increasing energy costs, mainly due to the war in Ukraine, occupying the minds of the world’s major countries. Yet, for Tuvalu, the invader is the sea, and the cause is climate change. It is a threat to human civilisation. Can we find the will to devote as much as we do to bombs and guns to defend countries like Tuvalu?
How far have we come?
As COP27 continues, VOX looks back at a discussion following the Copenhagen Summit, COP15; this one-hour panel discussion at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment was critical. All the panel members were at the Summit, and they gave their frank and informed views on what the Summit achieved – or did not achieve. They explain their disappointment and outline what should happen next. We leave the viewer to judge whether COP27 will be any different. It is a fascinating insight into the issues and geopolitics as they were a decade ago and now.
Posted by VOX News Editor, Ray Noble
