The agreement reached at the COP climate summit 26, in Glasgow, plans to reduce global dependence on coal and promises to allocate more money to help poorer countries cope with the impacts of a warmer planet.
Activists from the regions most threatened by climate change spoke to the BBC about what this pact really means to them.
Most of them expressed pessimism about the results of the summit and emotionally explained their fears that these political agreements are not enough to save their homes and cultures.
Pacific Islands: “It won’t stop us from drowning”
Elizabeth Kité is a youth leader in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. The deal doesn’t do enough to save his Pacific island home from being submerged, he says.
The existence of his island is at stake.
Catalog the summit as a stage for large countries to demonstrate “the muscle they have to pay small nations.” I wanted to hear that rich countries acknowledge their responsibility for historic greenhouse gas emissions.
“But they talk as if promising money is doing us a favor, but it is not,” he says.
She was carried away by emotion when she described how proud she was to see the negotiators from the Pacific Islands fight hard at the summit.
Last week, Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister, Simon Kofe, gave a press conference in the sea with water up to his knees , to illustrate the rise in sea levels.
“We are a friendly and generally very peaceful people. It is not natural that we insist so strongly – it saddens me that the agreement does not reflect how hard we tried, ”she explains.
Kité is frustrated by what she thinks is a foul of urgency and immediate actions: “It is as if the rich countries are saying, ‘Yes, we will let the islands disappear and we will try to find a solution along the way.”
However, you see signs of progress. It is the first time that fossil fuels and coal have been included in the text. And he says that the agreement to discuss separate funds for loss and damage – the money to help countries pay for the damage suffered by climate change that they cannot adapt to – is a positive step.
Bangladesh: “The youth finally had a voice”
Sohanur Rahman, from 25 years old, he is the founder of the movement Friday for Future (the international student movement promoted by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg) in Bangladesh.
Leads youth living in low-lying areas that are extremely vulnerable to climate change and are currently feeling the dire effects.
When the agreement was being sealed, he declared that he felt that the youth had been recognized for the first time at a COP meeting. But he concluded that “the end result is nothing” .
He was in Glasgow for two weeks hoping to return with good news for the most affected communities. But he leaves feeling powerless and betrayed.
“These empty promises will not protect our people from the crisis,” he says.
He welcomes the news of the payment for loss and damage, but notes that the voices of those most affected were silenced. Blame that on the fossil fuel industry representatives who were at the summit.
Children in Bangladesh will be forced to abandon their education and communities will be displaced by rising sea levels, he fears.
Uganda : “Nothing changes for my community”
Edwin Mumbere in Uganda lives under the shadow of the Rwenzori Mountains, where melting glaciers and floods pose a huge risk for rural communities.
Now with 29 years, he became an activist when he saw how the snow was disappearing in the high places.
Works with communities to bring solar energy to the region and educates them about their rights in the face of a pipeline that is being built nearby.
Tilda the Glasgow agreement of discouraging for Uganda and Pien sa that won’t really change anything for the 100. 000 inhabitants of your community.
“No true solutions have been established despite the fact that we have proven that climate change is real,” he assures.
Their main concern is the lack of urgency in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He sees oil and gas exploration set in in Uganda and other parts of Africa and warns that the Glasgow deal will not eliminate that.
“They are promising to hand over money and those The same countries are investing in projects that seriously increase carbon emissions – it is really a double standard ”, he reflects.
Philippines:“ We will continue to fight ”
Jon Bonifacio, from 23 years, studied biology before becoming an activist in the metropolitan area of Manila, Philippines. “It’s just ‘one step forward, two steps back,’” he said referring to the agreement.
With 197 countries at the UN summit, the concession between nations with great differences in priorities is the route to an agreement.
But he says that this concession is “completely unfair” for the nations in line front of climate change.
“We will continue to experience the climate crisis acutely and in the long term,” he says.
Jon Bonifacio says that it is everyone’s responsibility to pressure their governments to take action. You don’t trust the language used in the text about coal and fossil fuels because you think you have a lot of rescission clauses for the most polluting countries.
Like many activists who have long campaigned for better support for developing countries, he believes that the promise of increased money for the poorest countries represents good progress.
He will return to Manila and continue fighting for change: “Even if it were a perfect agreement, it is necessary for citizens and activists to pressure their governments to take action,” he says.
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