COP26: A Youth-led March to the Future?
The grand entrance to the conference's Blue Zone, the place where world leaders and other influential delegates gathered to discuss new commitments aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Photo by Callie Broaddus
Written by Lucy Houliston
The Reserva team, marching through the streets of Glasgow alongside 10,000 others on the Global Day of Action. The march was split into a number of themed blocks, with our team heading up the block dedicated to biodiversity! Photo by Callie Broaddus
The recent, rapid rise of the youth environmental movement has been well documented, with young people being increasingly recognised as ever more influential agents of change in the political space. But did the so-called ‘global youth’ receive this same level of recognition at one of history’s most pivotal climate conferences, COP26? Last November, I was lucky enough to join some of my fellow Reserva team members at the conference to get involved with the action and see for myself.
With the world having already burned through 86% of its carbon budget and official reports having stressed that the commitments made prior to COP26 will not be enough to see us meet global emissions reductions targets, it seemed that pledges of urgent, radical action would be needed for any of us to leave Glasgow feeling as though our futures truly were in safe hands. While I knew that the conference’s greater outcomes were far beyond my control, rather than worry about its inevitable shortfalls, I instead focused my attention on what my team and I could do to make an impact there as observers, hosts, panellists, delegates and—perhaps most noteworthily—youth.
Callie and Joe got busy delivering children’s letters to world leaders and other influential delegates in the Blue Zone as part of our 1 Million Letters campaign; Reserva Youth Council members James Miller, Bella Lack, and Liz Wathuti represented the youth voice in a number of panel discussions and interviews; and fellow board member, Lizzie Daly, interviewed over 40 delegates as part of the United Nation’s COPTV broadcast series.
In the lead up to the event, Lucy, Callie, and Joe spent days in our cozy Edinburgh AirBnB proofreading, sorting, and packaging letters from youth—from teenagers and pre-schoolers to young members of remote and indigenous communities—that had been submitted to us as part of our 1 Million Letters #ForNature campaign.
Unfortunately, this year’s COP was coined “the most exclusive ever” and met with criticism regarding its apparent failure to accommodate representatives from marginalised communities, especially those from indigenous communities and the Global North. It appeared that issues of global vaccine inequity rendered the conference inaccessible to many key stakeholders, with further backlash generated over the organisers’ decision to provide over 500 fossil fuel lobbyists access to the event while at the same time excluding many grassroots leaders and campaigners—including youth and indigenous people—from key discussions. Indeed, the crowds I encountered in and around the Green Zone sometimes seemed to lack diversity, however, young and indigenous people did appear to be an integral part of proceedings in the Blue Zone.
On their last day at COP, Bella and Callie attended a Blue Zone plenary during which delegates took to the stage to announce their countrys’ new pledges to tackle climate change and conserve biodiversity. Photo by Callie Broaddus
We were all pleased to see that the natural world treated to its very own day at COP. “Nature Day”—Saturday 4th November—was without a doubt one of the most memorable days I spent in Glasgow, as it also happened to coincide with the so-called ‘Global Day of Action’. In towns, cities, and villages across the world, people gathered in the streets in their thousands to demand urgent action for climate and biodiversity, and of course Glasgow was no exception. That morning, the Reserva team joined some 110,000 others to march in solidarity through the historic city, covering three miles from Kelingrove Park to George Square.
From left to right: Lucy, Sam, Alex, Joe, and Bella. Photo by Callie Broaddus
After a day spent trudging heavy-heartedly around the aptly nicknamed ‘Greenwash Zone’, that was the moment I felt my first real surge of hope: seeing people of all ages and from all walks of life coming together in spite of the rain to advocate for a better future for humanity, other animals, plants, and the planet. The march was divided into various blocks, our team fronting the biodiversity block and looking perhaps a little too proud of the makeshift banner we’d managed to cobble together out of a disintegrating WWF placard and one of our Reserva t-shirts.
Bella and the Reserva crew at the front of the biodiversity block. Photo by Callie Broaddus
The march wasn’t the only thing that made Nature Day at COP particularly special—it was also the day that we announced the completion of our flagship project: the creation of the world’s first entirely youth-funded nature reserve in Ecuador. To celebrate the news, on Sunday I hosted a 30-minute livestream from outside Glasgow Science Centre, during which I spoke to Callie, James, Alex and Julio about how we’d managed to achieve this impressive feat and what the news meant to us all.
Despite damning warnings that the pledges made at COP26 leave us on track for a catastrophic 2.4 degree global temperature rise, the conference did generate some positive outcomes that will help to bring us at least closer to a ‘1.5 degree world’. It’s long been recognised that climate change poses a real and imminent threat to humanity and that we must work to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This year, for the first time ever, countries agreed to take concrete action to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.
Two of our longest-standing Youth Council members, Bella and James, carrying one of several ticking climate clocks at the Global Day of Action march. The clock shows two important figures, the first being the amount of time we have left—assuming business as usual—until global temperatures are predicted to reach 1.5°C of warming; and the second shows the percentage of the world's energy being generated by renewables. Photo by Callie Broaddus
Nature has rightfully become a key part of the climate conversation and the importance of biodiversity conservation as a tool to help us combat the climate crisis is being realised. What’s more, though there is still plenty of work to be done to make COP a more diverse and inclusive space, young and indigenous people received more representation at this year’s conference than they perhaps have any COP previous: they are finally being recognised as key players and powerful sources of wisdom, passion, and knowledge within the environmental and political spaces.
James and Bella shared their opinions on rewilding, vegetarianism, green business, nature education and more in this thought-provoking Green Zone panel discussion. Left to right: Dominic Dyer, Will Travers OBE, Deborah Meaden, Craig Bennett, Bella Lack, James Miller, Pen Farthing. Photo by Callie Broaddus
I left Glasgow with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I felt disappointed and betrayed by those in power and, based on some of the lacklustre commitments made, worried about what the next decade might bring. On the other hand, however, I felt a real glimmer of hope and optimism, having witnessed the sheer collective power of the people and the connectivity, creativity, and positivity of youth. How the decisions made over the course of that fateful fortnight will shape our futures remains to be seen, but I think I speak for the entire Reserva team when I say that we won’t be giving up our fight any time soon.
Founder of the Rewriting Extinction campaign, Paul Goodenough, joined the team in the Green Zone to celebrate our reserve announcement as well as the launch of The Most Important Comic Book on Earth. This features stories of our work, with a portion of the proceeds set to fund our future conservation projects. From left to right: Alex Collins, Lucy Houliston, Callie Broaddus, Paul Goodenough, James Miller, and Paul John Bayfield.