DDM on how Protecting the Spiritual Environment Supports Sustainability at the 29^th UNFCCC

With global temperatures reaching record highs, and extreme weather impacting every corner around the world, climate action is a matter of great urgency. From November 11^th to 22^nd, 2024, the 29^th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. Leaders from governments, business, and civil society gathered to advance concrete and effective solutions to the climate crisis.

Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association (DDMBA) was represented by Ven. Chang Ji (常濟法師). On November 19^th, along with Global Peace Initiative of Women, Inner Trip Reiyukai International, and Sustaining All Life, DDMBA organized a side event in the Blue Zone of the conference. There, they had a meeting on "Foster Regenerative Cultures through Transformative Education for Children and Youth," with speakers from various countries, including India, the UK, the US, and Iran. The speakers pointed to the importance of connection to both nature and  feelings as an important problem that should be addressed to support efforts to climate change adaptation.

During the meeting, Ven. Chang Ji reiterated the importance of "Protecting the Spiritual Environment" and expounded how internal transformation of mindsets supports external actions on climate change. As she mentioned, "our ability to really discern what needs to evolve and how to help things evolve is impeded by all of the conditioned ways in which we impose a sense of limitation and lack on reality." Such a mentality limits our vision and impedes our action. As she further pointed out, "we have all these layers of assumptions, biases, and defense mechanisms that distort our perception and make it hard to see things clearly," resulting in inadvertently intertwining them with the existing problems while we try to make a change. Therefore, in order to move beyond the usual solution-templates, we must uncover and question the hidden narratives and assumptions that we are not yet aware of. Only then can we find more constructive solutions.

During the conference, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the 2024 Emission Gap Report in a presentation, appealing that nations must collectively commit in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce 42% off annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 57% by 2035, and that they must take immediate action. Otherwise, global temperatures will rise between 2.6 and 3.1°C in this century, with devastating effects on human beings, economies, and the planet as a whole.

"We would need global mobilization on a scale and pace never seen before. Many will say this is impossible. But the focus should not be 'whether it is possible,' but 'it must happen!'" Ven. Chang Ji indicated that the transformation to net-zero economies is imperative. The sooner global transformation begins, the better, and avoiding even just fractions of a degree of global warming will provide hope for the future of the planet.

Read full report by Ven. Chang Ji: https://www.dharmadrum.org/portal_d5_cnt_page.php?folder_id=2&cnt_id=24&up_page=1


Text / Dharma Drum Monthly, Ven. Chang Ji
Editing / Keith Brown, YKL, Li Siang-ling