When it was decided that our research team wanted to include a reflection of an Indigenous youth’s experience attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) I wanted to approach this reflection as though I was writing in my journal or recounting the experience to a close friend or family member. The following reflection is a recounting of my experience as an Indigenous youth attending both COP28, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – in 2023 and then COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan – in 2024. In both instances I travelled to COP with research team members Dr. Angele Alook and Ana de Almeida Cardoso, while our post-doctoral fellow Dr. Graeme Reed was present through his work with the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC). I have broken these experiences up because each experience was largely unique. 

 

COP28 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates – November 30 – December 13, 2023 

Before diving into my experience in Dubai at COP28 it is important to set the scene, which greatly impacted my experience attending COP28. The year was 2023, and COP28 was scheduled to take place from November 30 – December 13. Globally we were in the early stages of witnessing Israel declare war on Hamas and discussions around the uncertainty of the situation and the location of Dubai were already beginning to circulate amongst travellers. Rumors started that COP may be cancelled or moved to a new location as a result. 

It’s important to note that to attend COP you need to receive what is known as a “badge”. There are different types of badges that offer you different privileges within the COP space, these include: 

• Party/Country Delegation Badges: For official government representatives. 

• NGO Observer Badges: For representatives from accredited non-governmental organizations, often color-coded to distinguish from official party delegates. 

• Media/Press Badges: For accredited journalists. 

• UN Staff/Security Badges: High-level access for event staff and UN personnel. 

• Exhibitor/Booth Badges: For representatives managing booths in the exhibition area.  
  
  

The process of finding or securing a badge is extremely daunting and participants often don’t know if they are receiving a badge until very last minute. Luckily, for COP28, our team received party badges through our contacts at the Canadian federal government. Though this offered us access to more spaces and meetings than the general observer badges it also meant a formal lead up to travelling to Dubai – including safety briefings about tech surveillance, criminalization of LGBTQIA2S+, and warnings about drugs, alcohol and dress code. This began my experience of attending COP from a place of stress and anxiety to the point that I considered cancelling attending. 

After nearly 14 hours on a non-stop flight from Toronto, our long journey to Dubai was over. The desert air was hot and dry, and I had officially arrived at a place like no other I’d been to before.  

Our hotel was a safe haven while I was in Dubai, as it had been booked almost exclusively by Indigenous participants from across Turtle Island. It was comforting to see others dressed in ribbon skirts or beaded lanyards in the hallways or the elevator. The next day it was finally time to travel to the venue, a ~45 minute journey by tour bus. This year, COP28 set records for the most in-person participants ever, with a recorded ~84,000 people attending over a two-week period. Basically, a whole city was built in the middle of the desert to accommodate the mass amounts of participants and once we made it through the intense security gates it felt like I had been dropped in a Hunger Games arena.  

COP is a magnificent place, all around you at any given time you can hear languages you’ve never heard, see Indigenous Peoples from the Amazon walking through the venue in their traditional regalia, and maybe even spot an important political figure! A common phrase you hear is “COP is a marathon not a sprint” and this was something I truly could not understand until attending. Very quickly we were in the thick of things, temperatures soaring in the high 20’s or low 30’s, polluted Dubai air, long walks across the massive COP city for different events and lots of learning, listening and meeting new people. The venue being such a trek from the hotel meant that once you were there, you were there, this more days than not meant up to 10 hours or more at the venue.  

For me, an essential component to being at COP was feeling like I had a “purpose”. Our team was conducting interviews with Indigenous climate leaders for our research, and it pushed me to make connections and meet folks. We also hosted a reporting back event at the Indigenous Peoples Pavillion on our findings from COP27.  

The biggest personal struggle I faced while at COP was imposter syndrome, not only regarding my “climate expertise” but in my indigeneity. It felt like every Indigenous person I was around or hearing from had grown up with their traditional teachings, in community, and had faced direct impacts from climate change (like flood or fire). Being a reconnecting Indigenous person who grew up away from my community made me feel like my experience and knowledge was not worthy among their stories. Despite these feelings my top highlight from COP28 was meeting so many amazing Indigenous youth from across Turtle Island and beyond. Seeing youth engaged, angry, passionate, brave and who hadn’t yet given up on the earth was so empowering. COP can feel so disillusioning; people fighting over where to place commas on policies, false hope from governments, green washing, tens of thousands of people flying to a country that is the embodiment of capitalism and greed. But despite all of it, the Indigenous youth left me feeling like we would all be ok.  

Another struggle was feeling so removed from the land, water and Dubai as a whole. To this day when friends ask me, “what was Dubai like?” I still feel like I can’t give a proper answer. The COP venue, despite having lots of outdoor spaces, was made up of turf and cement and was its own bubble away from the city. A highlight of my time at COP was the “day off” which happens at the mid-way point of the conference. I spent the day at the beach and then on a desert dune tour. I got to touch the water and run my hands through the desert sand; it was so grounding and special, and I finally felt like “I am here”.  

At the end of my time at COP28 I felt exhausted, but hopeful. I told myself if I got the opportunity to attend COP again, I would be prepared and ready for the challenges COP throws at you. Lucky for me, the following year I had another chance to attend COP. This time in Baku, Azerbaijan.   

COP29 – Baku, Azerbaijan – November 11 – November 22, 2024 

The best way to describe the feeling of attending COP for the second time is like your first day of high school or university as a sophomore. I had a confidence about me that I remember others having the year prior. I was asking folks, “is this your first time”, and repeating the quotes I’d been told “COP’s a marathon not a sprint!”.  In Baku, the COP venue was much closer to the city centre, and the COP organizers had set-up shuttles to all different areas of the city that ran all day. This made travel to and from the venue much easier as well as hoping on a shuttle to the city centre more common.  

Learning from my mistakes the year prior, we had a goal of not staying 10 hours a day at the venue. We were much more successful at this (though not perfect) this time around. I also had a goal to try to experience the place I was more than I had before, I walked around the old town, ate traditional Azerbaijani food and allowed myself to feel present in Baku, not just isolated in the COP bubble.  

It was wonderful to come back to COP for a second year and see so many familiar faces after a year of being apart. We hosted and participated in more events this time around and I felt much more confident in myself and sharing my experience and knowledge. At times I found myself missing the Dubai venue, Azerbaijan’s venue was a completely closed off space, with few to no windows to the outside world. You’d enter in the morning and lose track of the time of day because there were no natural indicators. Despite this qualm with the venue itself I had a much better experience in Azerbaijan. I feel extremely privileged to have experienced these countries and shared space and stories with so many inspiring Indigenous climate leaders and activists. I feel even luckier to have my team from the Indigenous Climate Leadership and Self-Determined Futures Project.  

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