Vibrancy outside, decision needed inside COP17 Summit

Creative Commons: Oxfam, 2011

So the first week of #COP17, Durban Climate Change Summit is done. There has been energy and vibrancy outside the meeting rooms to focus our leaders on taking the action necessary to safeguard the future of our planet.

Outside the centre there has been a range of workshops, conferences and a lot of energy calling for new approaches to tackling climate change and supporting those affected. I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the Rural Women’s Assembly. It had a fairly standard set up but it wasn’t a run of the mill meeting.

The women arrived with what you might describe as a splash. They sung, they danced and they cheered their way into the tent. Speeches were interrupted and the speakers adopted the mantle “if you can’t beat them join them”, as the room erupted into a carnival with every new arrival. There were a fair few parties as the five hundred women arrived. These women are at the forefront of climate change. A warming planet and increased extreme weather will hit them hard.

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