COP has a guest-list problem

“The entire conversation around climate change was, ‘Pakistan…it’s Pakistan now, but the world next,’ 23-year-old Maryam Jamali recalls. “But no one from those communities was present at COP.”

Co-founder of Madat Balochistan, a women and indigenous-led grassroots organization dedicated to rehabilitating communities affected by climate change, Jamali became a climate activist during the catastrophic floods of 2022. As her family and community members faced its devastation, Jamali used phone calls to coordinate relief efforts in Sindh and Balochistan. It soon became apparent to her, however, that her work was akin to putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound. The communities at the forefront of climate disasters could not just be passive recipients of reactive relief work, she realized. They should have the leverage to determine what prevention, recovery and rehabilitation means for them before catastrophe strikes their homes and fields.

Moved by her experience, Jamali decided to apply for participation in the 27th edition of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP, scheduled to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November that year. It proved to be a challenge and she soon realized, she wasn’t experientially equipped enough to navigate the bureaucratic process and international networks that could support her accreditation and funding.

She didn’t give up. She applied for COP28, and then, again, for COP29. On this attempt, she managed to secure a conference badge with the help of a friend through a sponsoring organisation. COP29 took place in Baku, Azerbaijan and Jamali soon ran into a funding issue. She turned to online fundraising for support, but of the USD 2500 required at the time for the trip, Jamali was only able to raise USD 2000 (approximately PKR 555,600 in 2024).

Jamali is not the only one who ran into this wall. Aitzaz Roonjha is an 18-year-old climate activist from Lasbela, Balochistan. He began work in 2022 by joining WANG (We Are New Generation), a youth-led organisation, which worked on flood relief and recovery in Balochistan.

Last year, Roonjha applied and was selected to attend........

© Dawn Prism