As I finish up my first semester at Duke, I am still in disbelief that I will be attending the COP25 in Madrid. I never would have expected to have this opportunity to attend the international conference on climate change negotiations. With all the unknowns heading into this month, whether we would have the opportunity to go and even where the COP would be located, it is surreal to know that I am finally in my way. It is an especially exciting, yet intimidating time for these negotiations as climate change has become increasingly polarized in recent years, in conjunction with the growing need for the world to act immediately. I am anxious to see the course of the upcoming negotiations and especially interested in learning about the work being done by private and non-state actors. I believe they play a crucial part in this time to both support and lead Parties towards policy action and workable solutions.
A topic that I am also interested in following is the topic of natural climate solutions as a form of adaptation and mitigation. Natural climate solutions are the idea that we should be harnessing and supplementing the already existing services of natural systems or habitats to provide accessible, efficient and cost-effective solutions. Natural climate solutions are also a form of carbon sink, which is much needed in addition to reducing the output of greenhouse gas emissions, in order to achieve the goal of less than 2 degrees Celsius of warming. Some examples of natural climate solutions would include reforestation in both cities and agroforestry, natural forest management and avoided grassland conversion. A lot of work with this, both policy oriented and active implementation projects, is being done by several non-profit organizations that will be at COP25, including World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy. I am interested in seeing and hearing their ideas of how to achieve natural climate solutions around the world and how to have Parties actively incorporate these ideas into their adaptation plans or NDCs.
I know this week at COP25 will be enlightening. I am excited to meet and hear from policy experts around the world who are all working towards the same goals-preventing the worst impacts of climate change and ensuring the world can adapt to the already existing consequences. I also know this will be a very busy and hard week of work- it will be an overflow of new information and people in a new location. It will be difficult to track all that I want to learn, but I believe it will be the most rewarding experience.
At the end of the week, I hope to vastly add to my knowledge regarding the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement and actions being done by several Parties. I know our course has prepared us well, but seeing first hand negotiations and learning from experts will provide a completely different and unique experience. I am looking forward to seeing how attending these negotiations will change or further reinforce my goals for the future.
