Demanding Climate Reparations…Hundreds rallied at COP27 climate talks

 Hundreds of activists held a loud, midday demonstration at the United Nations climate summit on Saturday.

The protest, in which activists called on wealthy, industrialized nations to compensate developing countries for climate disasters, marked the largest demonstration yet during the two-week gathering of ministers, diplomats and leaders from nearly 200 countries.

Large-scale marches, sit-ins and rallies are typical at the annual U.N. climate talks, including the ones last year in Glasgow, where tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets.

Saturday’s demonstration took place in an outdoor courtyard within the complex that is housing the convention. The area was under the purview of the United Nations.

At the rally on Saturday, protesters made speeches about how to confronting climate challenges. Other speeches focused on climate reparations, a major discussion at this year’s conference.

Philip Kilonzo, an activist at the protest who is based in Nairobi, said the conference so far had gone woefully in the wrong direction.

“The Northern countries are beginning to run away from liability,” Mr. Kilonzo, the head of policy for the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, said, referring to reluctance from some countries in the Global North to allocate funds to poorer countries that have been most impacted by global warming. “There is general acknowledgment that the world is changing in terms of climate, but then there is a deviation in terms of commitment.”