Hello directly from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan!

Whenever I told people I was going to Azerbaijan they would make a funny surprise face and check if they were listening right. I also have never imagined being in Azerbaijan before. My journey here started almost a week before COP started because I attended COY19, the Global Conference of Youth on Climate by YOUNGO (the official Children and Youth constituency inside the UNFCCC).

Every year before COP, COY happens in the same country as the UN Climate Conference and is a space for young people to meet and plan for the next two weeks of advocacy and so much work. So I had almost one week to adapt to Baku: the cold streets, the “salams”, the groceries in Azerbaijani, and the unfamiliar faces with caring and familiar smiles.

Before even COP started, I found people who felt like family early on.

Every night, we would leave the COY venue to have dinner and discover which restaurant had the best-fried eggplant (if you ever go there, please try this!). I also had the chance to meet the team I was going to work with in person as part of the client component of this class one day before COP in a much more informal environment. I am a volunteer for the negotiations team of the WWF International. After that, I also attended my first CAN (Climate Action Network) alignment meeting which was a nice reminder of the things we achieved last year in COP and the the things we wanted to achieve.

Different from most of my peers, this is not my first COP. But this is the COP I am most prepared to be here. I attended COP28 in Dubai as well and this was my first experience in this space. I had a really significant experience last year and I bring so much of it to this year. I learned to navigate this space in a huge venue with at least double the number of participants we have this year.

My first impressions of COP29 were regarding the venue. The entrance was not different from what I had already seen last year, excluding the fact that we could hear some traditional music from Azerbaijan at the entrance and we were greeted by kind young volunteers. But as you step into the security, you realize we are in the middle of a vast, cold, empty stadium with a strong whiff of petrol. The tents are built in a way that you can see sunlight in a few spots, but mostly you enjoy artificial lighting in a closed shoe box. And most importantly to note, the action spaces were too small and too limited. Actions were the most important aspect of my experience last year and this broke my heart to see. I wonder if this was built for this purpose: to impede big civil society actions to happen. Is it even safe for civil society to protest inside this venue? I don’t know.

But even without sunlight, the overly hot heating, and the limited action zones, we are all here listening, acting, observing. We will fight despite the limitations because there is no other option.

 

Keep tuned for more blog posts from us in the next few days and some updates directly from Baku stadium featuring 196-country climate scrum during the Biggest Game of the season!

 

Salam!

Vanessa