Worry Blue text = a clickable link. To highlight pictures please click them.Recognise this young woman? If you are a frequent reader of this blog you will. If you don't recognise her, please know that she is an indigenous Amazonion fighting for the ecological treasure which is the Amazon basin. When I first quoted her (11/8/23) she said: ''My name is Txai Suruí... The Amazon, where my people have lived for more than 6,000 years, is close to an ecological tipping point that could turn the forest into a dry wasteland. If we don’t avert this collapse, it will flood the atmosphere with CO2, parch the Earth, and condemn 10,000 species to extinction. And all of us -- Indigenous peoples, ranchers, people across Brazil and the entire world -- will struggle to survive.' UpdateWhat Txai Suruí is saying now (Wednesday 29 November), as quoted in an email from Avaaz, is: "The Amazon isn't dying. It's being murdered. "My people have cherished this rainforest for 6,000 years -- it is the greatest manifestation of life, anywhere on the planet. "But oil companies don't see that. They drill precisely where the rainforest is most alive, spilling their black death, poisoning our rivers -- and fuelling the climate fever. They are killing the rainforest and all the life it holds. "Now those same oil giants are ready to grease negotiations at the UN climate talks, starting TOMORROW . A huge oil boss will lead the summit in Dubai, and hundreds of industry lobbyists are ready to feast." DebateTxai Surui is speaking about COP 28, the UN climate talks in Dubai and its president Sultan Al Jaber, For her and many other environmentalists the appointment of Al Jaber is a point of debate if not derision. So consider this. Fiona Harvey, writing in The Guardian on the 29th of November wrote: 'Sultan Al Jaber, the president of the UN Cop28 climate summit, has hit back strongly at reports he abused his position to try to sign oil deals with other governments, as the United Arab Emirates prepares to host the biggest Cop meeting yet. Al Jaber’s role is to act as an “honest broker” for the 190-plus governments gathering at the global climate talks, charged with leading them to a successful conclusion. He is also the chief executive of UAE’s national oil company, Adnoc, and campaigners say the two roles are in conflict.' Harvey further wrote: 'Campaigners were unsatisfied with the response (Al Jaber’s). 'Alice Harrison, the fossil fuel campaign lead at Global Witness, said: “The international climate process has been hijacked by the oil and gas industry. This leak must be the final nail in the coffin of the long debunked idea that the fossil fuel industry can play any part in the solution to the crisis that it created.”' Achievement?However, Angela Dewan et al reported on CNN, November 30 that: 'Global delegates at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai formally adopted a damage fund that was decades in the making, and several countries pledged millions of dollars to it to help nations hit hardest by the climate crisis – an early success on the first day of talks that allows more time to discuss the thorny issues around slashing fossil fuels.’ Dewan and co further wrote: 'Demand for a fund to channel money to developing countries to help them cope with the impacts of climate change has for years stymied progress at the annual negotiations. The details of the fund were agreed to earlier this month at a pre-COP meeting and were formalized Thursday, in the hope it would allow for progress in other areas at the summit.' Can that be seen as a great achievement and a good start to the conference? Well, can it? In balanceWhat will Txai Surui be thinking now? Will her suspicion about Cop28 be alleviated? Will ‘Alice Harrison still think the international climate process has been hijacked by the oil and gas industry?’ I'm also of very sceptical but I think we should give the conference some chance of success. I read that the UN Seretary General, Antonio Guterres, stated: "the race is on to keep alive the 1.5-degree limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015." I agree the race is on. And I hope that the race will be won. □ John McInnes Friday 1 December 2023 ##########
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