Pulling the Red Thread through: Reflections of my moderation and facilitation experiences in the environmental world, navigating a pandemic.

On 11th December 2019, in Madrid Spain, on a regular Wednesday that was NOT so regular I watched in awe as Luca Parmitano the European Space Agency (ESA) Space Commander came into full view on large screens. On the margins of the 25th anniversary of the Climate Talks, he was being interviewed by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Minister Pedro Duque of Spain (the first Spaniard to go to space). I was moderating the session and perhaps my face showed my shock as he streamed live from above the place we call home: Earth. Playfully toying with his mic as it floated away defying gravity, I was speechless. 

Luca Parmitano, ESA Space Commander - Picture by Kiara Worth for UNFCCC

His description of earth, when asked by the UNSG on what he saw from outer space, was poetic, vivid, alarming but also hopeful. My mind racing, as I sat next to the UNSG, I wondered what he was making of those forests fires across Australia and the Amazon. I could not help but further wonder how helpless he may have felt. 

It wasn’t long before humanity came face to face with a painful reality - a mere three months later after this interview - of a pandemic that grinded the entire planet to a halt: Covid-19. Many wondering what was going on, reality kicked in that we had not treated Mother Earth well. Clearly our relationship with nature was evidenced by this new reality. 

Over the last few years I have been fortunate enough to be asked to moderate and facilitate various events in multilateral and bilateral processes. Listening in to discussions with governments, private sector, Indigenous Peoples, Civil Society organizations and the United Nations has given me a helicopter view of the issues. But also the connections between these issues. I have also gotten the chance to meet such incredible ordinary and humble humans doing such extraordinary work. 

Me in conversation with Anne Botin and Mary Robinson - Picture by Kiara Worth for UNFCCC

As shell-shocked as the world was in March 2020 with global lockdowns, in a feat of irony, a few weeks later, on 22nd April the world was celebrating the 50th Anniversary of World Earth Day. What was supposed to be a series of in-person events across the world, turned out to be virtual events demonstrative of this new reality. As lockdowns were announced by countries, climate change showed its face with terrible flooding and locust events in the East African Region. I moderated an event with the Kenyan Red Cross and various stakeholders talking about these challenges that were no respecter of borders and needed no passports to go across. Listening in to these conversations where the pandemic and climate change converged, was disheartening. 

Summer came in the Northern Hemisphere and suddenly our screens were flooded with pictures of people on beaches forgetting that we were still living in a pandemic world. Parts of the African continent was entering winter, with predictions of many deaths due to covid-19. 

By the time September had arrived, I had been asked to moderate a High-level session on the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The world was celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, in what turned out to a non-assembly (no in person meeting) for the first time in the history of the UN. On 28th of September I moderated a session that brought together presidents (with pre-recorded messages) and heads of government from around the world, committing to a Leaders Pledge for Nature. It was just two days before the first ever UN Summit on Biodiversity that would yet again tell the world the centrality of Nature in our lives and importance of it keeping the planet in balance. What was crucial in these events was the Planetary Emergency we were facing as humanity and the wake-up call that Covid-19 is.  

 Virtual or otherwise, I have continued with one thing consistently: wearing RED as part of my moderation signature colour. 

The colour of our blood and what glues us together. And perhaps a reminder that we are in the same boat all facing the same plight.

As I pull this “Red thread” through these conversations, I am amazed now more than ever about the intersectionality of various issues. We can no longer look at Food Systems in isolation of the energy dialogue for instance. Similarly, the role of the business sector as a contributing factor in the climate change discourse cannot be ignored either. Forest ecosystems have equally come to the fore in the conversation on zoonosis and also traditional food systems and nutrition, but also value chains. The pandemic has also shown us that there is a price to pay for our unhealthy lifestyles.

As my Red thread is weaved through of all of these conversations, one thing is starkly clear: As humans, we need to change our ways! Systems Thinking is indeed the key. We can longer afford to operate in silos. Perhaps as this pandemic is a wake up call for all, it has perhaps opened up a window of opportunity for humanity to plan better for a future that is certainly - UNCERTAIN.

 And in all honesty: Climate Change is REAL!