T -38 days: inclusivity, diversity and the roadblocks ahead.

Author: Pamela EA

Welcome to On the Road to COP, where we look at the road to COP27 against a backdrop of rising urgency and optimism. In conversation with those on the frontline of the climate justice movement, we will be exploring the roadblocks to advancing climate justice, what is at stake, who is stepping up, and how everyone can join our journey towards a better future.

Here in our fifth instalment, we speak with Naomi Flores about inclusivity and diversity within climate discussion, and what she sees on the road ahead as we look towards COP27.

Naomi Flores is a climate justice and governance activist from Mexico. For the past 7 years, she has been doing volunteer work at a local, national and international level in the climate justice movement with organizations such as Latinas for Climate, the Center for United Nations Constitutional Research, and Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE).

Hi Naomi! Firstly, how are you? What have you been working on lately?

Naomi : Hi! For 7 years I have been doing volunteer work at a local, national and international level with a focus on improving people's lives considering integral well-being that can also benefit the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. In recent years I have joined various organizations that have turned my activism into a job for life: my passion has become a way of life.

With Latinas for Climate and the Center for United Nations Constitutional Research, I have dedicated myself mainly to action for climate empowerment (ACE) where my goal is to spread information and work on projects and campaigns that educate youth on issues of climate change with a gender and intersectionality perspective.

I studied international relations and just graduated, since then I manage the CUNCR Youth Climate Ambassadors program where we recruit young activists from around the world who seek to learn about governance and UN processes regarding climate change. Here, courses are given with expert academics and funds are provided for community projects undertaken by young people.

At Latinas for Climate I dedicate myself to supervising communications between the network's activists and managing the collaborations and topics that will be posted on our social networks.

I was recently selected as a representative of civil society organizations to attend COP27 with the Mexican delegation and support the negotiations.

“We do not need more promises, we want structural changes that really create a new paradigm and can control the effects of the climate crisis creating more resilient, sustainable and fair societies.”

Naomi Flores

With the work you have done recently in relation to the climate negotiations, what are your expectations for COP27?

Naomi: I am working on climate education and capacity building projects for young activists who seek to collaborate with international institutions and governments on public policy and negotiations, which is why I am familiarizing myself with the issues that will be paramount for the COP negotiations and this year it is expected that climate finance and loss and damage will be the two main axes. Since 2016 we have not had a COP in the global south and that is why climate justice has not been the driving force of the last conferences. This year it will be in Egypt and we hope to see ambition to promote the issues that have remained unfinished and that mainly affect Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia and the island countries.

Climate change is already affecting many people in conditions of vulnerability and in the coming years it will continue to increase, so we are no longer just talking about mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage is an urgent issue.

I also believe that the location of this COP will have repercussions on the participation of vulnerable groups such as youth and children, women, indigenous peoples and rural communities, among others, because there is not much accessibility to the city and it is expensive, but it is expected to equal the participation of these actors to that of last year.

What do you see as the roadblocks to advancing climate justice? How do you think this can be fixed?

Naomi: Climate justice is about our right to have a community, live with dignity and see those who have harmed and profited be held accountable now.

The climate crisis is a manifestation of the pervasive injustice that has brought economic inequality, oppression, subjugation and exploitation to the global south. We deserve the same quality of life as the people in the global north, but this remains unachievable for us unless there is a transfer of knowledge, technology and wealth. For this reason, it is very important that the negotiations in decision-making spaces at the local and international levels have the representation of all the communities that have been underrepresented for years.

In COP27, we especially need that the parties (the States) have members of these groups in their delegations as negotiators because otherwise they are only "listened to" but not taken into account when creating agreements or treaties.

What do you think should be done to ensure negotiations are successful?

Naomi: It is necessary that the negotiations not only focus on political achievements by signing commitments, declarations and agreements that lack legal force and whose fulfillment depends on the good will of the parties — we need binding and coercive tools that force countries to comply through stronger internal public policies that reflect what was agreed upon in these commitments.

We do not need more promises, we want structural changes that really create a new paradigm and can control the effects of the climate crisis creating more resilient, sustainable and fair societies.

“ Climate change is already affecting many people in conditions of vulnerability and in the coming years it will continue to increase, so we are no longer just talking about mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage is an urgent issue.”

Naomi Flores

What are potential or existing obstructions to the advancement of climate action in Mexico? How can COP27 serve as a space to ensure your country meets its goals?

Naomi : In Mexico there are many internal problems that have been used as an excuse for years for not making the climate and environmental agenda a priority. It is essential that the media understand and share the concerns of academia and activists from an objective perspective and without demeriting our cause as a simple opposition attack.

We must demand our narrative to be heard: the climate crisis is a social crisis and if we do not put this issue on the table with comprehensive solutions, the other problems of inequality, poverty, migration and organized crime will also increase.

COP27 is a space that helps to raise ambition and open the space to have more concrete actions when we return home. At COP27, countries can understand the realities of other States, but also face their priorities and find joint ways to collaborate. In the case of Mexico, COP27 could serve to commit our government to comply with the agreements that have been signed (such as the Global Methane Commitment, the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on forests and land use, among others).

Finally, What brings you optimism on the road to COP27?

Naomi: COP 27 will be my second COP and now I am much more psychologically prepared to endure two weeks of hard work; this year I will go with the Mexican delegation and I am also preparing myself in technical matters to be able to do a good job representing civil society organizations.

It gives me hope to know that I am going to be the echo of the Mexican youth and present the work that many activists have prepared throughout the year. I also feel more optimistic because I know that the networks that were created last year by civil society were strengthened, and they grew during the year, showing that these spaces are much more than white men in suits. We are many people who for 12 months worked hard to converge in that space and grow our projects and ideas for a better world.

To continue learning about the road to COP27, read our interview with our interview with Elijah McKenzie-Jackson & Jerome Foster II and Melissa Cáceres. Visit movement building to learn about what other changemakers are doing.

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