MOCK COP26

To watch the 11-day Mock COP26, please visit the Mock COP26 YouTube channel here.

Session: The first Mock COP26 Live Panel Discussion (Sunday 22nd November)

Facilitated by Mock COP26’s Martha

See a clipping of Stella’s discussion here.

SOURCE: The first Mock COP26 Live Panel Discussion on YouTube.

Below is a transcript of the clipping:

Martha:

You suggested disaster management needing to be more participatory to include women and other underrepresented groups. What does a better process look like to you?

Stella:

A better process looks like disaster risk governance, so I’ll make reference to that. Which is how different entities, public private individual, coordinate at different levels, to reduce risk. You can think of it as a participatory approach to risk reduction. There are some basics here, for the good governance of anything really, it must be participatory, transparent, equitable, inclusive.

To achieve this, this disaster risk governance, it should be representative of the people it serves; women, the youth, and other marginalized groups of people should be included. Having their say in decision-making; so in the public, private, individual, entities, they should be represented, as well as in the different levels of coordination (the national, sub-national, regional levels), they should be represented there too.

Also, making reference to the most vulnerable people, which is usually these groups of people (somehow ubiquitously they’re left out of these conversations that would make the biggest difference to them), when we talk about them and the need to adapt, to increase their resilience, then this is exactly how. You can definitely start here. Having their needs heard. Which hopefully then means, their needs are addressed.

National adaptation plans make provision for the same participatory approach to be used.

Martha:

You explained the need for coastal and agricultural adaptations, particularly in some of the areas worst affected by climate change. How can those in less affected areas — such as many richer countries in the Global North — understand these issues better?

Stella:

There’s a Swahili saying, “Ukimuona mwenzako amenyolewa wewe tia chako maji.” I remember something a Dr. Lucy Jones said, that sort of rephrases the same thing, “We don’t have to suffer directly ourselves to be empowered to act.”

It’s good to understand that this is global, which means, it’s probably a matter of time before climate events come knocking on your door, if it hasn’t happened yet!

I’d say Activism helps. It’s very raw, it’s very present, persistent, and firm. Activists, mostly the youth, have changed the landscape quite a lot, not only by creating awareness but also by communicating how climate change is already unfolding, how its already affecting people, and this is very important, when people see and feel how others are already suffering. There’s others who are using their agency to take big corps, and countries even, to court, which is very inspiring. So, I’d say activists have a chance of getting across to those who are yet to buy into the urgency of climate change.

I’d also say, empathy. I’ll lean into something Maya Angelou said about being human. That these people, their thoughts, their actions, are human and therefore we should be able to relate. We should be able to see ourselves in them, including climate deniers. I believe empathy would allow us to put ourselves in their shoes, and I feel, if we were able to do that, we’d start to understand what they don’t understand. The point is, common ground.

Now, if we were talking about a case where a big corp was setting up a coal plant, I’d say, yeah, go after them.

So, what I’m referring to when I say, empathy, requires some situational awareness on our part, to know who we’re talking to, what opinions are they pre-disposed to, and what are the implications of their actions? Because it would be wiser to go for big fish; it’s not like we have time to put ourselves in everyone’s shoes anyway.

PIGEONHOLE QUESTION

Martha:

How do rural dwellers manage mental health issues associated with climate change loss and damages and how can they solve those mental health issues

Stella:

I think it’s devastating. I think it’s a mental issue, a challenge. For them it’s a physical loss, it’s a lot of losses and damages for them. These are people who don’t have many assets. So they’re losing literally everything they have. There’s loss of life, yet they depend on human resource to farm, for them to be able to eat. So if somebody gets ill, it’s a risk to food security.

I think increasing resilience would help, climate action, adaptation that would increase their resilience, their social and ‘self’ resilience as well to deal with these situations. Because when you’re better able to deal with something, you’re at a better place (mentally) to manage it. When you have more information that you’re dealing with as well, it reduces vulnerability because you know what to do and when. It’s best to implement climate smart technologies and climate smart farming, that way they’d be better able to deal with whatever comes their way.

Martha:

You also mentioned agroecology as a solution for better soils and farming livelihoods. Please could you explain more about what agroecology is and why it is important for these areas?

Stella:

I’ll juxtapose this conversation against industrial farming because that’s where you really get what agroecology has to offer. Industrial farming relies heavily on machinery, and you could argue, it is subsidized by fossil fuels. Without fossil fuels, it wouldn’t be as efficient, at that scale. It also relies heavily on pesticides to control pests and weeds; pesticides also have a link to fossil fuels, they’re made from petrochemicals. But as more of the chemicals are used, the soils become toxic, this isn’t a good environment for the microorganisms that make for healthy soils. Also, these chemicals, are not only harmful to soil, but when it rains they wash away into water sources.

Basically, what you have there, is a pollutant that’s bad for health, that’s unleashed into the environment, and research shows, this scale of operations, does not mean more food production. So, you end up using more toxins, only to produce less food.

Agroecology is a move away from this, you can think of it as agriculture that’s inspired by natural ecosystems. It means focusing on the health of soils, more soil organic matter means more food production. It also naturally means, less use of pesticides (there are natural equivalents). It means, growing native plants which ensures that there’s less fuss about them fitting in, because you need less irrigation. But this also means that farmers start to value what they have in their backyard. Which could mean more food variety and availability, and less crops going extinct.

So, for the vulnerable areas, sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia, where livelihoods and ecosystems are most vulnerable to climate change, where food insecurity is high, yet most livelihoods are agricultural, the need for agroecology is a big one.

Martha:

What has been your personal motivation for getting more involved in the area of climate resilient livelihoods?

Stella:

Research has been my motivation. Sub-Sahara’s contribution to carbon emissions is a small share. Even if it got to zero carbon emissions, it wouldn’t make much of a difference on the whole, the global emissions. But also, sub-Sahara is the most vulnerable to climate change globally, despite its small carbon footprint.

So, adaptation, risk reduction, increasing resilience,.. these should be prioritized over decarbonization. This is a call to governments especially, to participate as part of the solution; by creating awareness and building resilience.

Inaction by African leadership has also been a trigger for me. If developed countries, that are mostly climate resilient, have made climate emergency declarations, then the fact that sub-Saharan countries haven’t, is a show of poor regional climate governance.

The lack of political will in itself is a great threat.

Stella Nyambura Mbau PhD

Founder & CEO LOABOWA

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