Four years ago, during the closing ceremony of the COP17 Climate Train in Durban, Mbali Vilakazi performed her poem, ‘Is there a Xhosa word for climate change?’ In it, she issues a reminder that “there are overarching narratives, and then there are people just trying to live their lives within them.” With the questioning refrain “what will we say…?” she calls on COP negotiators to remember people, just trying to live. She asks them to “listen, see, think, speak, do, be differently” in order to create an inclusive framework with “words that each and every single one of us can reuse.”
The rhythm and relevance of her words still resound at the close of COP21, creating a steady beat which remains true beneath the cheers that laud the Paris Agreement “historic” (Al Gore), a “monumental triumph” (Ban Ki-moon) and, in the words of one British paper, ‘the world’s greatest diplomatic success.’
What does COP21 say to small islands?
