Looking back at IPF’s participation in mobilisation ahead of COP21
On 20 November 2015, kayakers were getting ready to leave for Paris to bring important messages to COP21 negotiators.
© International Polar Foundation
Many education and outreach events and activities were organised ahead of COP21 which took place from 30 November 2015 to 12 December 2015. The International Polar Foundation (IPF) participated in two very interesting initiatives in Belgium: a climate exhibition and an event on climate and water which brought together associations who had important messages they wanted to highlight before the negotiations began at COP21 and kayakers who were getting ready to travel to the Paris negotiations via inland waterways.
The climate exhibition was organised by Bruxelles Environnement / LeefMilieu Brussel, the environmental administration of the Brussels-Capital Region, in their new eco-friendly office building. It opened two months before COP21 and ran until December. The exhibition provided visitors with key information on climate change, on the history of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework, on the objectives of COP21 and what we can all do to fight climate change. The IPF's contribution to the exhibition included magnificent framed pictures of the Antarctic environment and a slideshow that gave visitors the opportunity to discover the Antarctic. The exhibition took place in the building's atrium. It was visited by a wide audience including Bruxelles Environnement / LeefMilieu Brussel staff and visitors, participants in environmental conferences and the general public.
The IPF was invited by Coordination Senne to participate in the Afterwork Climate and Water event they were organising with Escaut sans Frontières. The event brought together all the associations who wanted to send messages to Paris to highlight the importance of reaching an agreement on climate change and the importance of water issues. On November 20th, the IPF joined a group of about 60 participants on the “Climate Boat” on the canal in Brussels. Following presentations by Climate Express on citizen mobilisation for COP21 and by the International Scheldt Commission on water perspectives, a number of associations gave a group of kayakers who were planning to go to Paris via the inland waterways messages to give to Belgian COP21 delegates. This was a great opportunity for the IPF to highlight the importance of education. The kayakers left Brussels for Paris the next morning taking all the messages with them and arrived right in time to deliver the messages. You can see all the messages and learn about the important issues highlighted by the associations on Coordination Senne's website.
