Fellows of the UConn@COP program gave a mixed perception of their trip to Belém, Brazil, during the Climate Change Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 3, in the Student Union.
Alongside the fellows were students who received awards from the Environmental and Social Sustainability Grants program this spring. The awardees presented how their projects can reduce waste and make processes like wastewater treatment more sustainable.
Networking opportunities, disappointment and a fire were some moments shared by the 12 fellows as pivotal to their experience at the 30th Conference of Parties on Climate Change, also known as COP30. Malak Nechnach, a seventh-semester physiology and neurobiology major, said she was let down by how some countries’ delegates reacted to a negotiation she attended.
Nechnach said that during the meeting called “Special Needs and Circumstances of Africa”, she heard arguments from representatives of countries like Chile which challenged why a meeting focused on Africa was necessary. As a Moroccan student, Nechnach said her belief is that Africa has unique vulnerabilities to climate change which deserve recognition.
“Everyone has their own agenda, so it kind of feels useless,” Nechnach said, referencing how the discussion influenced her perception of COP30. While Nechnach said the negotiations didn’t always seem the most productive, she added that she left with an “overall great experience” after speaking to many different people.
Other fellows shared similar experiences with personal takeaways that were positive and broader concerns about where COP30 left off. Aminieli Hopson, a seventh-semester real estate and urban economics major, said that he’s an optimist who went into COP excited that a major theme for the conference was implementation.
“There was implementation, however there weren’t as many actionable steps as promised in week one,” Hopson said, adding that the overall perspectives of the fellows changed depending on which panels and negotiations they attended.
Hopson’s attendance at a panel called “Higher Education as a Critical Global Partner for Enabling and Accelerating Climate Action” exemplified his point.
Hopson’s poster about COP30 included the four key steps he learned from the panel to help students make a positive impact by supporting institutional platforms, according to his recap. These include youth participation in climate governance, climate education, finance for youth-led initiatives and pathways for youth inclusion in climate negotiations.
It wasn’t always the content of the negotiations that made COP30 memorable for the fellows. Caroline Keary, a master’s student in the social responsibility and impact in business program, said the fire that broke out during the event spurred a lot of panic in the audience.
“The worst part about the fire was that it was so chaotic but everyone was safe,” Keary said. No injuries were reported and the fire was put out in six minutes, but 13 people were treated after for smoke inhalation, according to Al Jazeera.
Keary said that after the other fellows let her know about the fire, she stood up and interrupted the panel she was attending to ask if they were supposed to evacuate. Despite being in a different area then the fire, Keary’s panel dispersed after she brought attention to the emergency. She added that the instructions to evacuate were confusing to her because they were in Portuguese.
While some of the fellows said they were a little underwhelmed by what COP30 had accomplished, Anagha Payyambally, a marine sciences graduate student, said she was pleasantly surprised by the conference’s focus on the ocean and celebration of the recently ratified High Seas Treaty.
The High Seas Treaty was proposed in 2023 with the objective for conservation and sustainable use of biological marine diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, according to the United Nations website.
“Many industries mine [in areas beyond national jurisdiction] and destroy different ecosystems,” Payyambally said, adding how the two years it took to ratify shows how little attention the treaty previously received. The Earthshot Prize award was given to the High Seas Alliance, a coalition advocating for international support of the treaty, by Prince William in Brazil moments prior to COP30.
“It felt like more hope,” Payyambally said about the treaty’s ratification and Earthshot Prize recipient. While Payyambally hopes COP will continue to focus further on marine issues, she added that the location of COP31 gives her doubt.
“We need the next COP in Australia because we need to talk about the ocean,” Payyambally said. While the topic of discussion does not depend on COP location, she said that Australia’s proximity to many Pacific island nations who are vulnerable to sea level rise make the country an ideal host of COP31 to depict the urgency of climate action.
Turkey and Australia were both vying to host COP31, but during COP 30 the announcement was made that the arrangement would be split so that Turkey could host the conference and Australia would lead the negotiation process, according to Reuters.