MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' SAERI scientist invited to COP27 at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

Beautiful New Island, Falkland Islands – a world away from COP-27, where remote biodiversity thrives in isolation. Photo: Dr. Narissa Bax

The 27th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP-27) is a platform for 197 states, or ‘parties’ to discuss lessons learnt from the 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and how they will achieve the goals agreed to in the Paris Agreement, to keep global warming below 1.5°C-2°C.

The Paris Agreement within the UNFCCC specifically deals with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and adaptation, and officially began in 2020.

This year COP-27 is hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from November 6th – 18th and SAERI’s Marine and Coastal Program Coordinator (MPCP), Dr Narissa Bax, has kindly been invited.

Dr Bax will attend COP as part of a delegation of nine international scientists working with the University of Southampton and the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) Climate Change Working Group. This is an incredible opportunity to participate at the highest level of discussion on climate change, and Dr Bax will contribute based on her knowledge of remote locations such as the Falkland Islands, Antarctica/sub-Antarctic and South America, and her work on deep-sea collections, particularly deep-sea corals and her collaborative work on benthic blue carbon and nature based solutions to climate change.

The DOSI delegation will host a side event to raise awareness about the importance of the deep-sea in terms of climate change mitigation and adaptation and promote the inclusion of the oceans in climate negotiations. It is expected that there will be a number of activities, outputs and communications associated with the delegation and Dr Bax will communicate these to SAERI social media during the event.

Islanders are invited to keep tuned for more details as they unfold and feel free to email any questions you might have to: info@saeri.ac.fk. We would love to hear from you given this unique opportunity to participate during international climate change discussions!

Finally, thank you to the John Ellerman Foundation for funding the MCPC role at SAERI. Thank you to the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) Climate Working Group for this amazing opportunity and to the Ocean Foundation Travel Grant for Deep-Sea Scientists for financial support to attend COP27.