Blog Post #7: the voices concealed during COP27
COP27 is a conference about climate change that will be held this year from November 6th to 18th in Egypt. Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres said “no country and no economy is immune from the climate crisis” which is the reason why so many representatives from different countries are meeting.
Many news websites (I.e., Al Jazeera and Mada Masr) and organizations (I.e., Human Rights Watch and Medium, a blogging site) were blocked so people at the meeting could not find outside information during. The only voices showcased at COP27 are from those who got invited to join the meeting, people who hold significant power and influence in their countries. Even during a meeting that is supposed to be collaborative and productive, people there are not able to access information that fully encompasses the severity of the global environmental issue. While climate change is a global issue (which will impact different regions faster, of course) people who are poor and have restrictive access to resources are disproportionately affected by this issue, which was not addressed during the meeting.
The Pulitzer Center funded Quartz, a news site in featuring Abel Abdullah’s story about farming in the Nile Delta, one of the most vulnerable areas in the MENA region (and globally) to be affected by climate change.
He and his business are struggling with environmental issues, like rising sea levels and water pollution, as well as other issues, including population growth, urbanization, inflation, loss of subsidy money, etc. People like Abdullah are not able to share their side of the story (due to censorship and the nature of their jobs, long hours) so citizens can easily become blind sighted by the Nile’s history of having fertile land and the fact that 12% of the country’s GDP comes from this part of Egypt. Environmental issues in general are taboo in MENA media outlets because of the risk of reporting about such—journalists have been arrested and prosecuted. In discussions about climate change, like COP27, people like Abdullah are not invited to come because leaders fear blame will be put on their them or their respective countries when climate change is again, a global issue.
Comments
Post a Comment