Alex Bellini: “Denied rights and the environment My days at Cop 27”

“In my life of crazy and risky journeys I have made many, but the one on which we have all embarked surpasses them all”. Thus began the journey from which Alex Bellini has just returned, destination Sharm El-Sheikh. Explorer and environmental popularizer, Alex is 44 years old and for Green&Blue he recounted the Conference of the parties on the climate in Egypt via Instagram, explaining in pills what was happening outside and partly inside the rooms where the “big ones” of the world gathered to decide what strategies to adopt against the climate crisis. Two weeks of difficult negotiations full of contradictions that Bellini will return to tell tomorrow at MAXXI in Rome for Open Summit 2022.

“Whether COP27 was the biggest victory since Paris in 2015, or the biggest missed opportunity, depends on which perspective you want to look at. The agreement to create a fund to repay the damages and losses suffered by the countries most exposed to the catastrophic effects of climate change. From today we are starting to talk about compensation for historical responsibilities”.

Egypt has been criticized a lot for excessive surveillance and a ban on protests.
“The Egyptian government scores a sensational own goal which, trying in every way to stifle the protests, has put the unsustainability of the local human rights crisis even more in the spotlight. This contributes, together with the environmental one, to creating that which Mia Mottley – the premier of Barbados – has called “polycrisis”. It is partly a victory, if only on an intellectual level. Big polluters such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have failed miserably to impress visitors by just a display of innovative green technologies. The question is postponed until next year, when they will be the ones to host Cop28.”

Who celebrates victory so they only want to see the glass half full?
“On other fronts, COP27 was a colossal failure. On the negotiation side, a year was lost because on climate mitigation and finance, the final agreement follows that of Glasgow in 2021. There was the will not to leave anyone behind, but many were dumped in the running, like those who had the courage to express their dissent”.

Gagged activists?

“Jacob Johns, a native American, and some of his colleagues, for example, were turned away (and their passes withdrawn) for a brief protest during the speech by US President Joe Biden. Their only fault was to show the sign ” People vs Fossil fuels”. This would have represented a threat to public safety. I met Johns in the apartment where he was confined. In his eyes you read the story of a people, the indigenous one: “The way the world treats indigenous cultures it’s humiliating. We are guardians of ancient knowledge that is neglected, but the world would have much to learn from us'”.

What remains of Cop27?
“The image to which I will forever associate Cop27 are the many faces of people who had themselves photographed every day in front of the great representation of the globe. It was as if they discovered, at that precise moment, a hidden truth: “we are all there, together, united by the same destiny”. It’s not much, but it can make a difference. Let’s start from here”.