In Brief: Indigenous groups play vital role: Study

GLASGOW • Indigenous groups from the Americas, Asia and Africa play a vital - if sometimes little appreciated - role in fighting climate change.

What they need is better protection of their lands and legal recognition of ownership.

A study released on Saturday shows that 958 million ha of indigenous and community territories contains over 250 billion metric tonnes of carbon.

However, these communities have legally recognised rights to less than half of this area - 447 million ha - jeopardising the landscapes they protect.

GLASGOW • Those with the power to make decisions about how much the world warms in the coming decades are mostly old and male. But those who are angriest about the pace of climate action are mostly young and female.

Indeed, they seem to have different notions of time.

At the summit, leaders are setting goals for 2030 at the earliest. In some cases, they are setting targets for 2060 and 2070, when many of today's activists will be hitting retirement age.

The activists say change must come immediately. They want countries to abruptly stop using fossil fuels, and to repair the climate damage that is now being felt in all corners of the globe, but is especially punishing the most vulnerable people in the Global South.

NYTIMES

GLASGOW • As 25,000 delegates from around the world pile into negotiating rooms, cram into security queues and huddle over texts, the threat of Covid-19 is always present. And sure enough, some delegates are falling sick.

A United States official has tested positive, the State Department said yesterday, joining Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti who went into quarantine last week.

The Scottish government puts the infection rate at the summit around 0.1 per cent, according to a statement from the administration.

COP26 president Alok Sharma declined to share numbers with reporters last week, saying only that there is no reason "to be concerned".

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