High prices in COP27 city make it difficult for activists to get involved

The high costs of products and services in Sharm-El-Sheikh, the Egyptian city that hosted COP27, seem to be reproduced – what an irony! – so-called climate injustices. Expensive food and high rents in this resort make it difficult or even impossible for activists, especially those from poorer countries, to attend the UN climate conference.

And the values ​​implemented at COP27 facilities seem to be even higher, leaving those who can’t afford it heavily out of the climate change debate, making it clear that social inequalities and climate inequalities do indeed go hand in hand.

Recalling that the payment of financial compensation by the most industrialized countries for the benefit of the poorest countries, those most affected by the climate crisis, is one of the main themes of this United Nations meeting.

The experience of six young Africans and Europeans from the ATD Quart Monde association illustrates this well. ????????[É] Impossible to find an apartment to share cheaper? 1k (about R$5.5k) a week”, sums up one of the band’s members, Solal Billon.

Their first meal within the confines of COP27 guaranteed another moment of great fatigue: “Not everyone ate here, we paid €100 for three sandwiches, three soft drinks, three juices and three desserts,” underlines the Frenchman among them.

COP in Africa, but without Africans

It is no coincidence that his Kenyan colleague Terry Kiarie pointed out the low presence of young Africans at this COP… African!

Elhadji Oumar Gueye from Senegal regrets that the poor, who are the biggest victims of climate injustice, are not invited to debate. “We’re here to think about climate change. This reflection requires representation from all social strata. Today there is a witness of a family in poverty, but there is no condition to be here. It’s really something. Maybe we should think about how we’re going to do this in the future,” he warns.

If the voices of victims of climate injustice around the world are still not fully heard, at least some of its representatives’ calls at COP27 seem to have garnered some attention: Since Thursday (10), the event’s organizers have halved the price of drinks sold at the facilities hosting this UN climate conference.