Climate change will once again become the focus of global diplomacy, as countries are gathering in Marrakesh for the 22nd session of the annual climate conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 7 to 18 November. With the Paris Agreement entering into force on 4 November -marking the first time that governments have agreed legally binding limits to global temperature rises- the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) will also take place in Marrakech along with planned 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12).
MedINA, as part of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture (MCNC), will participate in the COP22 through a side event focused on the relationship between cultural practices and climate change in the Mediterranean basin which will take place on Wednesday 9 November in the Zone Verte (Salle 5) at 17:00. The exhibition “On the Move”, a photographic journey through the lives and challenges faced by transhumant and nomadic pastoralists in the Mediterranean, will also be exhibited in the COP22 and will be open all day for visitors in the Zone Verte from the 7 to 15 November. After seven stops in the Mediterranean, the exhibition then travelled to Hawai’i in September 2016 for the IUCN WCC where it was hosted with great success.
The side event on Wednesday 9th November will present the work of the MCNC on key cultural practices that benefit nature conservation and will aim to raise awareness of the importance of selected cultural practices with a focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation and engage in dialogue with COP22 participants on these issues. The main topics will include mobile pastoralism, traditional fisheries, communal governance systems and spirituality as related to biodiversity conservation and climate change and will be presented by representatives of the six cooperating organisations that make up the MCNC. MedINA will be represented by Alexis Katsaros who leads the MCNC project on transhumance and traditional fisheries for the organisation. The side event will allow 50 minutes for an open conversation structured around the value of cultural practices in climate change adaptation and mitigation and the potential of preserving and reviving these practices as well as incorporating them more effectively in the climate change agenda.
