Lindsey Fielder Cook speaks from COP26 at the Opening Ceremony of Geneva Peace Week 2021
At the Opening Ceremony of Geneva Peace Week 2021, our Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook was part of the speaker panel to discuss ways forward for environment, climate change and peace.
Lindsey joined live from COP26 to implore the critical role of global, regional and local climate action to avoid catastrophic climate change, while emphasising that “climate change is symptomatic of a greater challenge of how to live sustainably and justly on earth.”
Central to this question is an increasing awareness of the root causes of climate change and environmental destruction and their impacts on peace and justice. Lindsey reminded us that human rights must play a critical role in climate responses and our transition away from fossil fuels to ensure sustainable peace.
So, what are the challenges to peace and where are the seeds of hope? Lindsey notes that political will is a major factor. We must ask who holds money and power, who controls extraction, and what elements of our economic systems are unsustainable and unjust?’ And yet, seeds have emerged from citizen activity, a new generation of voices and, as co-panelist Marc Batac reminds us, ‘the seeds of peace are often not seeds, they are decades and centuries old forests’ of local knowledge and action.
Click below to watch Lindey’s captivating talk, from 55:07 onwards
