The article below represents the voice and opinions of one such delegate – Bodhi Patil – a student in the UBC Sauder School of Business and Masters of Management program.
Bodhi is currently studying oceans, climate action, and business, and attended COP29 as a member of the Wisdom Keepers Delegation, a non-profit civic group and global delegation of Indigenous knowledge holders and Earth protectors.
Words by UBC student, Bodhi Patil.
I joined forces with Indigenous knowledge holders and Earth protectors spanning continents and borders at COP29. Together we fight for climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, ocean stewardship, and direct access to climate finance, along with much more for a healed planet and humanity.
I’d like to touch on why [I believe] COP29 was such a colossal failure and dive into what we need to do moving forwards on the road to COP30.
Climate advocacy, exhaustion, and action
Before we dive in, I want to acknowledge that ocean-climate advocacy takes a massive physical-mental-emotional-spiritual toll. We need better tools and spaces for transforming climate exhaustion into action to build an empowered, not apathetic, generation of leaders. Being kind to yourself, nature, and the larger community is key for advancing meaningful ocean-climate solutions in times of confusion.
#COP29 failure for finance and ocean-based climate solutions
[In my opinion] we need trillions to support climate adaptation and disaster recovery in the developing world. Developed Parties only offered $300 billion.
In the official closing statement by a Wisdom Keepers Delegation, we declare,
“This text proves that those representing overdeveloped nations & colonial states have no shame or empathy; greed and cruelty completely and utterly replaced that…The absence of a human rights framework or rights of Indigenous Peoples makes it clear that they intend to continue financial colonization and expect us to be grateful for it. They forget this isn't charity; these are debts that Indigenous Peoples and the Global South are owed.” - Sheelah Bearfoot, Chiricahua Apache.
[I believe that] investment in adaptation, mitigation, and nature-based solutions is desperately needed and was a massive missed opportunity at COP29, hailed as the “climate finance COP”. Global north countries must support the climate-nature-ocean nexus through investing in funds that upscale Indigenous solutions, science, and technologies in the global south. [I suggest] the current lack of financial accountability is utterly unacceptable for rising generations, frontline communities, and countries bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.
As mother ocean is humanity’s evolutionary origin and [one of] the largest carbon sinks on earth, increased inclusion of ocean-based climate solutions in Nationally Determined Contributions is critical. Climate policy and ambitious investment has a long way to go. We need a whole generation of advocates and warriors fighting for a regenerative earth.
What’s needed to create a regenerative blue economy
During these times of injustice, the ocean, Indigenous stewards, and young innovators are our planet’s greatest hope. It is clear that the fight against climate change cannot be won by a single generation.
[The Wisdom Keepers Delegation believes that] meaningful climate solutions require the wisdom of elders who carry deep ancestral knowledge alongside the skillsets of young people who are pushing for systemic change with matriarchal leadership.
[We argue that] intergenerational collaboration, equitable ocean-climate finance mechanisms, and support for Indigenous stewards who have outsized nature positive benefits is exactly what is needed as we approach COP30 in the heart of the Amazon. We need to strengthen the ocean-climate nexus and ensure young, Indigenous, and local peoples are co-creating the future of a regenerative blue economy alongside the #COP30 presidency in Brazil.
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Connect with BodHi
If you are interested in ocean-climate advocacy, Bodhi would love to connect! Find him on LinkedIn and Instagram, or via email at bodhi@oneworldbreath.org
