Vermont Law students to support small island nation during U.N. climate conference - Burlington Free Press
Alongside top leaders and scientists from around the world, Vermont Law School students will be supporting a small island nation at the 2021 U.N Climate Change Conference starting Sunday in Scotland.
Professor Sarah Reiter, who teaches the service learning class that serves as the law school's delegation, said her students will be supporting their client from the Seychelles, which lies north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, in climate negotiations, as well as creating educational videos about the conference and running live online panels throughout the week.
Reiter said she is excited for her students, who will participate virtually, to experience international and climate law outside of a courtroom while also deconstructing colonial ways of advocating for developing nations.
The 26th Conference of Parties, or COP26, will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. The goals of the conference will be to accelerate action towards lowering emissions,protecting people and habitats from inevitable disasters, funneling money from developed countries to developing countries, and creating a Paris Rulebook that will give more structure to the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust
The students' client is the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust. The trust was created from the money the country received from a marine rehabilitation deal the Seychelles government signed in exchange for payment of its national debt.
The trust provides grants to sustainable fisheries and other groups working to preserve coastal environments. Instead of acting as lawyers in a courtroom to support the trust, students will learn a different way to advocate that includes more behind-the-scenes work.
"Here, it is not your job to speak on the behalf of the client," Reiter said. "It is to support and amplify the client."
The students will conduct research on other countries' climate policies and goals, track other sessions of negotiations and draft talking points, all of which prepares the non-profit's CEO Angelique Pouponneau for her negotiations.
In the Seychelles and elsewhere, scientists are investigating how seagrass, mangroves and salt marshes could help sequester carbon.
More:They pulled 63,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but that's just the start
Lessons for Vermont
Reiter said Vermonters can learn important lessons from countries like the Seychelles, one of many island nations that are most at risk for adverse effects of rising sea levels and warming temperatures.
"I think that we all have a climate story whether we realize we have a climate story or not," she said. "I think by learning from small islands about what they have been going through, we increase our empathy and understanding of what's happening."
Vermont Law School has had a delegation of students participate in the annual Conference of Parties for nearly a decade and Reiter has taught the class for three years. Students will post blog posts throughout the conference on the class blog.
In addition to learning about international and climate law concepts including negotiation, treaty language, coalitions and agreements, Reiter said her students also learn about oceans and their importance in climate negotiations. She said conferences like COP26 where politicians, lawyers, scientists, and activists all gather gives students a better view of the multidisciplinary approach needed to find solutions to climate change.
"Stabilizing the climate is not something you do in a courtroom alone," she said.
Contact Urban Change Reporter Lilly St. Angelo at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @lilly_st_ang
source: https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2021/10/29/climate-change-vermont-law-students-support-seychelles-cop-26/6192442001/
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