COP27 Partner Profiles

By Deanna Johnson on November 10, 2022

The annual COP gathering received international attention each year for providing a platform for coordinating global responses to climate change. However, these events consistently exclude those most affected: people of African descent, Indigenous groups, small island developing states (SIDS), and the poor. UUSC and its partners are demanding that we clean up COP and prioritize the voices that should be at the center of these discussions.

UUSC is supporting seven partners from around the globe to attend COP27 and participate in crafting the way forward in climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response. Here’s a look at the partners who will be attending. You can find an overview of their demands here.

Be sure to follow UUSC on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates and news about COP, and help us encourage global actors to #CleanUpCOP.

Pefi Kingi, PacificWinPacific

Pefi Kingi is the founder of PacificWinPacific, one of UUSC’s newest partners. Through her organization, Pefi has created a network to boost her region’s calls for climate action. She will be attending COP for the first time to join in representing Pacific voices. Ahead of the event she stated, “the time for real action is now! This climate crisis awaits no one, and our Pacific Region pleads for collective support and solidarity!”

Tuvalu Climate Action Network

The Tuvalu Climate Action Network (TuCAN) unites and amplifies the messages of civil society throughout Tuvalu in regard to climate change through a communal and gender-based approach. TuCAN partners with other Pacific Island organizations including Pacific Climate Warriors and PICAN—who are both also attending COP27— to develop regional messaging and policy frameworks to protect against rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms. TuCAN attends COP27 to engage in conversations around international responses to climate forced displacement and land loss mitigation and adaptation.

Pacific Climate Warriors

350 Pacific, also known as Pacific Climate Warriors, empowers young Pacific Islanders to learn about climate change and advocacy. The majority of Pacific Climate Warriors’ work is concentrated around lobbying, advocacy, and storytelling. This year, Pacific Climate Warriors will use COP27 as an opportunity to advocate countries’ adherence to the carbon budget, which would ensure compliance with the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping the global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, Pacific Climate Warriors will be joining conversations on mitigating the loss and damage brought on by climate change and disproportionately witnessed in SIDS.

Pacific Island Climate Action Network

The Pacific Island Climate Action Network (PICAN) is dedicated to connecting Pacific Island grassroots organizations on climate action. The organization has been in operation since 2013 and works closely with TuCAN. PICAN continues to provide a platform for a united Pacific Island voice through advocacy and action including co-hosting the 2021 Pacific Climate Justice Summit. During this year’s COP, PICAN will be sure to join conversations to support the advocacy efforts of SIDS, who are consistently positioned to bear the brunt of climate change induced loss and damage yet are just as consistently denied positions of power in funding and strategizing for mitigation, adaptation, and response. 

Makereta Waqavonovono, Climate Tok

Makereta Waqavonovono leads Climate Tok, an Fijian organization that supports frontline communities across the country  in developing tangible policy solutions that address loss and damage and climate-forced displacement through human rights and community-informed approaches. At COP, Makareta wants to see a “solid commitment for finance that may be easily accessed by […] frontline communities that have been severely impacted by the climate crisis.” 

Kioa Island Community Organization

The Kioa Island Community Organization (KICO) formed in 2015 to inspire and support the Pacific island of Kioa. Through various projects and initiatives, KICO preserves the cultural heritage of the island and provides its residents with opportunities to develop skills to improve their quality of life. KICO recently launched the 2022 Kioa Climate Emergency Declaration calling for urgent and decisive action from policymakers on climate change disaster mitigation and adaptation. The declaration also calls for wealthy governments to “pay their fare share” in terms of climate financing. Stay tuned for more news on the declaration’s launch.

Equality Bahamas

Equality Bahamas is a Nassau-based organization that promotes women and LGBTQ+ peoples’ rights and responds to disasters. Equality Bahamas serves individuals throughout the Bahamas and beyond—providing humanitarian assistance programming and virtual work and learning resources to those displaced from Grand Bahama and Abaco to Nassau in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, supporting three St. Vincentian organizations following the eruption of La Soufriere, developing and instituting an incubator program to investigate the impact of Hurricane Dorian, and more. At COP27, Equality Bahamas will be paying special attention to conversations around climate change adaptation, resilience, and financing especially as they pertain to SIDS.

Image Credit: Pacific Island Climate Action Network