What Do Island Nations Think About The Discussions At COP26?
Considering the impact that climate change could potentially have on island nations in the coming years, we decided to head in to the COP26 event and find some attendees from these countries.
Countries like The Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Seychelles and the Solomon Islands are most at risk of disappearing under water if we do not reach the 1.5 max warming.
While we were there, we met Miguel and Feranda from Cuba who spoke to us about their concerns when it comes to climate change on their country. The interview was conducted in Spanish; so any quotes are translated into English.
Havana, Cuba (Juan De La Vega)
Fernanda immediately told us she was extremely worried about how rapidly the effects of climate change can be noticed in Cuba. She told us that already beloved beaches and shores are disappearing under the sea due to the rising sea level. Miguel then told us that the couple and their family live a mere half hour away from the ocean and are worried that by the time they have grandchildren, the town they know and love will be completely submerged in water.
Cuban Life (René de Jesus Peña Gonzalez)
They then told us that they are worried for their children’s future. The couple’s daughters are only 6 and 2 years old, making them concerned for what kind of world their kids will be growing up in. They even told us they are not sure if their kids will be able to stay in Cuba due to the growing threat of the country going underwater.
Cuba Coastline (Juan Carlos Alom)
Fernanda told our CEN journalists that they had originally planned to come across with her sister and brother-in-law however, they could not afford the trip so they are here on their entire family’s behalf. She then told us that most Cubans do not have the money to be attending COP and therefore feel like their voices will never be heard. She then went on to tell us how Cuba is too small to have an individual impact itself, the world needs to come together and tackle climate change as a whole.
Cuban Protestors ((Marta Maria Perez Bravo)
To finish the interview, I asked them if they were optimistic about the outcome of COP26 to which Miguel replied, “We are optimistic that this COP event will end in a good agreement. It just has to for people like us.”
We found this interview very impactful and helped to show us that although countries like Scotland who’s cities sit well above sea level are not affected by this issue, these smaller island nations are in desperate need for climate change to be tackled before their nation disappears in mere decades.
