Instagram story viewer> @farhanayamin> Posts

Farhana Yamin

@farhanayamin

6K

followers

4055

following

Lawyer, Climate Justice Funder & Activist, Author, Director, mum, migrant, UNFCCC process nerd & storyteller 🌍

POSTS STORIES REELS

Good things don’t just happen, they are created. And change doesn’t appear unless you contribute.

For rear of being dramatic, we’re at a climatic tipping point. If you struggle to know what you can do about it beyond the obvious (use public transport, recycle, buy local) - there are often ways you can share your time, mind and networks for.

There is so much to be gained from service to your community. It’s nourishing for your soul and others, supports noble movements, can be a source of hope and motivation and a way to socialise. Being part of one is reward for the participation for sure.

We have been given the honour and opportunity to be a part of @glastonburynutfarm “Board of Nutters” along with some inspirational figures, including @farhanayamin , @josiah.meldrum , @raakheetailor , @bigguy_4x4 @nickmilton1 Stephen Crozier, Daniel Connor, Grace Whitty, Jake Spooner, Lucy Williamson, Will Baxter and @harrydyersussex .

Andrew and his team are building something special with ambition and a long term view. Agroforestry, more ecosystem, more wildlife, more food, more flavour, more reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Thank you @elsakent_ for bringing such an inspiring group together and letting us be a part of it.

LETS GO NUTTERS 🌰

#nutters #agroforestry #glastonbury by @farhanayamin

Announcing the Board of Nutters! The first three!
•
We are so thrilled to launch this newly formed group of inspiring, thoughtful and brilliantly nutty people, who are going to help shape the future of our farm, and indeed the British nut movement! 🌰 We’ve focused on drawing on a range of influences, from chefs and ecologists to artists, lawyers and fellow farmers…we’ve made the group intergenerational, eclectic and balanced, and we can’t wait to see what this ignites for our project!
Here are the first three to be announced! (9 more to come!)
•
Farhana Yamin needs little introduction in these circles- an international lawyer and climate justice activist who has advised vulnerable countries in UN climate talks for over 30 years attending nearly all of the UN Summits COPs since 1991. She played a key role in the negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol as well the 2015 Paris Agreement ensuring it contained the goal of net-zero emissions, an idea she put forward in 2013. She has founded or shaped several global coalitions and movements, including the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the Cartagena Dialogue, the High Ambition Coalition and Culture COP. Her work has earned her numerous accolades and awards, including being named No. 2 on the BBC’s 2020 Power List, where judges described her as a “powerhouse of climate justice.”
•
Grace Whitty is a multi disciplinary artist, educator, and climate activist. She currently works for Studio Cultivate - delivering an agro-ecological curriculum to London school children. Additionally trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier in theatre and clown, Grace combined her twin passions of art and environmentalism to found ‘The Last Tree Theatre Project’ - an environmental theatre initiative that has toured Kenya, Edinburgh, and London. In her spare time, she facilitates wild camps on Dartmoor with WildWise and runs circus and theatre sessions for displaced communities with The Flying Seagull Project.
•
Harry Dyer is Co-Founder of SHRUB, a British Seasonal Wholesaler specialising in routes to market for small scale farms, currently focused on selling into the London Restaurant industry. by @farhanayamin

Join us this Sunday 14th at the Atelier Gardens in Berlin for a screening of the film 'Rebellion'.

'Rebellion' is the first feature-length documentary to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Extinction Rebellion, following a group of unlikely allies as they come together to confront the climate and ecological emergency. The event is FREE but if you are in a position to make a donation that would be much appreciated.

Schedule:
5pm - Film Screening, Atelier Gardens, Oberlandstraße 26-35
6.30pm - Q&A with Farhana Yamin, Benjamin Rodrigues Kafka, and film director Maia Kenworthy

Drinks and snacks provided. Link in story.
#climatejustice #extinctionrebellion by @farhanayamin

LEAVING COP30

I am leaving Brazil and on my way back to Berlin. As I depart, a few last-minute reflections...

The negotiations are still ongoing. Ministerial consultations continued through the night and the final plenary is due to start imminently. I might be on my way home, but my thoughts today are with the negotiators. All power to the ambitious!

Yesterday, I was pleased to see that the next COP will be co-hosted by Turkey and Australia, an innovative arrangement that will mean COP31 will be hosted in Turkey and the pre-COP will be held in a Pacific island country supported by Australia. This is a positive development and should give the island states a proper voice in the process.

Finally, a big shout out to all the journalists! We need more transparency at COP but without all the journalists we would be in an even worse position. They have also been working through the night to keep everyone informed and they too deserve our thanks.

Fingers crossed for the coming hours. Let's wait and see.

#cop30 #climatejustice by @farhanayamin

FIRE AT COP30

Yesterday, I was speaking at a panel event in the Blue Zone. We were just getting started, when someone ran by shouting "fire, fire!" We stopped, confused. And then, suddenly, more people were running. "Fire! Fire!" At first, we assumed it was another protest or a piece of performance art. It all seemed too obvious, a clunky metaphor for a world on fire. But quickly it became all too clear that it was real. "Fire! Fire!"

The conference centre was hurriedly evacuated. In the chaos, I found myself flung together with some old friends that I had negotiated the Paris Climate Agreement with. We stuck together, helping one another through. Outside, the rain was torrential and we decided to take the first bus out of there. We didn't care where it was going, we just wanted to be away from the fire. So we sat on the bus until the end of the line.

Eventually, the rain subsided. We found ourselves stopping at the very edge of the river, where the bus depot was and the bus driver lived. It was a beautiful place. We walked down to the river bank and watched the sunset. We talked, and danced, and felt grateful to have escaped. A few hours of magic, surrounded by nature.

My friends at the Entertainment and Culture pavilion were at the heart of the fire. For them, the power went off and the flames suddenly appeared. It was terrifying. Luckily, everyone there is now safe. Some people have been treated for smoke inhalation but most of us are returning to the talks today, exhausted. We have lost a key day of the negotiations. At this stage, the presidency does not seem willing to take risks. The draft texts are weak and unworkable. People are not optimistic.

The fire seems destined to become a symbol of these talks. It was a moment in which the climate crisis came to our door, haunting us, mocking us. We can take it as a portent of doom, of course. Or we can make it a moment of change. We cannot allow the politics of delay and destruction to win out, again and again. It is time to return to what matters. To build something new from out of the ashes.

Greta Thunberg once told us "to act as if our house is on fire." Well, now there are no more excuses. by @farhanayamin

DAY 9 at COP30

Breaking news. Around 80 countries have grouped together to ask that the COP President puts a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels on the negotiating table, after their initial draft text included only weak references to it. "We are saying with one voice that this is an issue that cannot be ignored", said the UK's energy minister Ed Miliband. Focusing action on fossil fuels and forests is necessary to hold true to the Paris Agreement's promise of limiting warming to 1.5C. Let us hope that AOSIS, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, and others can push these talks in the right direction.

Yesterday, I also took part in a few events. One panel on Decolonising Climate Futures at the Finland Pavilion and another panel on A Decade of the Paris Agreement at the Senegal Pavilion. As we reflect on the achievements of Paris, it is important that we all heed the renewed calls for ambition today!

Let's make these talks a success.

#cop30 #climatejustice
@fossilfueltreaty
@aosis_chair
@greenpeace
@boschstiftung by @farhanayamin

DAY 7 and 8 and COP30

On Sunday, we held a really powerful and healing ceremony at TED Countdown, led by Chief Ninawa and Mindahi Bastida. Offering chants, prayers and sacred incense, the ceremony was a ritual cleansing of the space and was intended to open the path forward based on respect for nature and traditional forms of reverence for our Earth Mother. At these talks, Indigenous peoples have made themselves heard - their presence here and the wisdom that they bring has already improved it immensely.

On Monday, I caught up on sleep and met with my Vanuatu delegation and Minister Ralph Regenvanu. This week, negotiations continue apace and I am speaking at more events - you can find a list attached to the end of this post. Onwards!

#cop30 #climatejustice
@wisdomdelegation
@tedcountdown by @farhanayamin

DAY 5 and DAY 6 at COP30

Yesterday was the People's March. It was an incredible atmosphere, with thousands of people marching through the streets of Belém. There was an Indigenous bloc, a youth bloc, a pro-Palestinian bloc. A huge number of people working on social justice, workers justice, migrant justice. Two large snakes wove their way through the crowd, carried aloft by the protesters. A funeral parade for fossil fuels followed behind them. After consecutive COPs with little tolerance for protest, it felt so good to have this vital energy back at the talks.

On Friday, myself and hundreds of other delegates arrived at the conference centre to find that another overnight protest had blocked the entrance to the venue. We were so humbled by the courage and the organisation of the Indigenous peoples here, making a powerful point about how they had been shut out from these talks. In the end, the COP President had to come out and talk to them, agreeing to listen to them and to address their concerns. This is an important first step, albeit one that has come far too late. Chief Raoni Metuktire warned us: “If we continue destroying everything on this earth, there will be many consequences, there will be chaos on this earth.”

That important message has defined the last few days for me. I have been organising a purification ceremony with Chief Ninawa Huni Kuin and others, a ritual cleansing of the space that will take place today. I also spent a long time following the agenda item on COP reform where some incredibly weak conclusions were finally adopted, delaying the process yet again. How can we stop the paralysis, the lowest common denominator from happening time and time again? We need to match the energy of the protesters and welcome them into the talks. We need to be ambitious about the future of this process - it is clearly time for change.

#Cop30 #climatejustice
@aliancadospovospeloclima
@entertainmentculturepavilion
@caciqueninawahunikui by @farhanayamin

DAY 4 at COP30

Yesterday, I was part of the debate "will green be the new brown?" at TED Countdown with Debatable.

At the start of the debate, most people in the room thought that green energy would necessarily be clean and compliant with human rights. But, by the end of the night, my side had convinced the majority of people that until we put the just transition first - until Indigenous peoples and frontline communities are given a voice - we will get a continuation of the same extractivist dynamic. It was a great and nuanced debate and I was proud of our team.

Here's a bit more from my talk: "To pretend that the renewable industry is not operating in this bigger, exploitative, unjust system that has deep historic roots is to mislead ourselves and those that we want to convince to move faster and quicker. As a movement, as a lawyer, as an activist, as a mother, it is time to be truthful. It is time to stop asking those on the frontlines and who are already bearing the injustices of that to sign up for a bit more. You will not get this green transition unless and until we stand with and for frontline communities. The global system of extraction that extracts trillions of dollars from the Global South to the Global North is part and parcel of what we need to address."

The other photos here are of my colleague sitting under a huge, wondrous tree and the serpent from our sacred ceremony outside the Leaders' Summit which managed to slither its way into the conference centre. It is an artist's piece, a symbol of how Indigenous peoples bring nature into these talks and demand justice.

#Cop30 #climatejustice
@marcelo.behar
@fatoulaminjeng
@tzeporahberman
@solambin
@elasackville
@mindahibastida by @farhanayamin

DAY 3 at COP30

Yesterday, I spoke at an event for We Make Tomorrow at the Entertainment and Culture Pavilion. This has become a bigger part of my work over the last few years and I am constantly inspired by how artists approach the question of climate action. It is time to fully integrate culture into the UNFCCC second Global Stocktake.

I also spoke to lots of delegates yesterday about COP reform and the current state of play. The negotiations are currently very slow and those who have been blocking progress seem to have the upper hand. It's the same old tactics, but now with even more entrenched blockages. I also met with GAYO, the Green African Youth Organisation, and I went to the Amazônia exhibition by Sebastião Salgado, which was so beautiful. Salgado died earlier this year; he was a hero lifting up the people of the Amazon and his work continues to inspire me today.

I ended the evening with a very basic, homemade pasta made with friends. These things are important too -- culture takes many forms!

#Cop30 #climatejustice
@julies_bicycle
@entertainmentculturepavilion
@gayoghana by @farhanayamin

Some reflections from DAY 1 and DAY 2 at COP30...

Yesterday evening, protesters stormed the conference centre. A group of Indigenous peoples carrying signs reading "our forests are not for sale" passed through security and into the Blue Zone. It was a dramatic and unusually febrile moment this early on in the negotiations. And it shows how far we have to go on issues of COP reform. The conference this year has been dubbed "the Indigenous peoples COP" by the organisers, but was this just spin and bluster? Indigenous peoples already feel excluded and shut out. It's often their lands that we are discussing here, and yet they still don't have proper access to the talks.

Nonetheless, negotiations are now underway. I'm leaving my room at 7am and am back at midnight. The heat is intense. The rain is torrential. At the conference centre, there are blocked toilets and flooded walkways. Navigating the venue is itself a test of endurance. It took me ages to find a map of the pavilions, which I have included in this post in case it is helpful to others, and have been thinking a lot about how disabled people are shut out of these spaces too.

I spent most of the last two days working with the Alliance of Small Islands States, AOSIS, which is chaired this year by Palau. We are trying to push for proper ambition. But all of this is very hard, because many of the largest emitters are stepping back and not stepping up. For the first time in the history of these talks, the US has not sent a single delegate to COP, yet their influence is obvious - the bullying and intimidation through aid, trade, and the threat of military intervention looms very large. "This is a lifeline for our survival", says Toiata Apelu-Uili from AOSIS. "We're here because our survival, our people, our lives are not negotiable."

The atmosphere here is tense and we will see what begins to emerge in the coming days. I am hoping that the international community can listen to the calls of small island states and Indigenous peoples, not the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry.

#Cop30 #climatejustice
@aosis_chair
@climatevulnerableforum
@entertainmentculturepavilion by @farhanayamin

Today is the first day of COP30!

And here is my dispatch from yesterday...

DAY ZERO. The first thing you notice is how unfinished it all is. The convention centre is still being built. The walls are still being painted, the furniture is still being unpacked. It'll have been a long, tense night for the builders and for the people running pavilions.

It must have been a tense and long night for the negotiators too as much of yesterday was spent waiting for the Brazilian Presidency to convene Heads of Delegations to iron out how to deal with requests for new agenda items. Let’s see how Brazil manages expectations alongside the smooth running of the “show”.

Talking of which, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday talking to people about the need to reform and overhaul COPs to face future challenges. There is a lot of interest in reforming this tired but vital space and, for me, that also involves bringing in culture. My team and I spent a lot of the day organising a ceremonial blessing and purification ritual to be performed by Chief Ninawa and Mindahi. This ceremony will be a ritual cleansing of the space, asking permission from the spirit beings of the Amazon region to open the path forward based on traditional forms of reverence for our Earth Mother.

It was nice to bump into lots of old friends and colleagues, to share thoughts and tactics. I was blessed by some new, accidental encounters too. Waiting for a bus, I was completely soaked in a tropical downpour but got talking to an Argentinian musician named Maryta who campaigns against lithium mining. It's these kinds of interactions, the throwing together of two strangers from different parts of the world, that give me strength. The COP process needs reform, but it is also blessed by so many inspiring, passionate contributors.

As the conference begins today, I hope we can make the most of it. I've never been to a COP that seemed so unfinished hours before... So let's hope that doesn't become a metaphor for something.

#cop30 #climatejustice
@theearthelders
@wisdomdelegation
@tedcountdown by @farhanayamin