A week in the life of a 23-year-old Tunisian climate activist preparing for COP27

Insaf Abdelmoula writes about her week as she teaches Tunisian youth about climate policy and celebrates a win in her medical career. (Courtesy of Insaf Abdelmoula)

Insaf Abdelmoula writes about her week as she teaches Tunisian youth about climate policy and celebrates a win in her medical career.

Monday, October 10

Today was long and exhausting, but by the end of the day it felt good to have been so productive. I am currently preparing to attend COP27 as a member of the delegation from Tunisia, and simultaneously working with UNICEF to teach youth in my country about climate change. As such, I was tasked with organizing a discussion between members of the delegation and youth activists from across Tunisia which will be happening on Sunday — in six days! So I spent most of the day coordinating with UNICEF to plan what the discussion would be like. 

As a member of the Tunisian group of young climate negotiators, which is a subgroup of the delegation, we receive continuous technical training sessions about climate policy and negotiations. Today we started the training session with GIZ, the development agency that works with the German government to achieve sustainable development goals. This first session was pretty extensive. It was about Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which is the item that I will mostly be following at COP27. This means that, as a party delegate, I will be closely following the negotiations around the international carbon markets, and possibly even partake in those negotiations under the supervision of the head of the delegation. The session made me realize that there will always be more things to learn, no matter how ready you think you are, and it made me look forward to the upcoming climate negotiations. 

Tuesday, October 11

Today I woke up early as usual to go for a morning run. I showered and meditated, then I was finally able to start my day around 9 a.m.

Today was a very, very joyous day! The day I have been waiting for since April when I applied to Université catholique de Louvain, one of the best francophone universities in Belgium. I have finally received an acceptance letter to continue my medical studies there. This is a goal that I have been working very hard towards. I have deprived myself from summer vacation to prepare for the entry exam for medical school, and I am very happy that all my hard work paid off.

In preparation for the Sunday meeting between the delegation and the youth activists, I had to make sure that the youth were well aware and conscious of climate policy and its main challenges. So I prepared and led a training session for them today to teach them about climate negotiations and Tunisia’s positions in those international negotiations. I was worried the session might be too heavy and technical, but it seemed that they enjoyed it and were very curious.

At the end of the day, I went out with my friends to celebrate getting accepted to my dream university!

Thursday, October 13

After two exhausting days, today I was able to wake up later than I usually do. I woke up at 9 a.m. and went for a run in a nearby park. Then I went home and did yoga and meditated to clear my mind and start the day feeling energetic. 

“Ever since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated with and passionate about art. I always lose myself while drawing or painting,” says Insaf. (Courtesy of Insaf Abdelmoula)

I spent the morning doing research for an art project that I have been wanting to start for a long time. Ever since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated with and passionate about art. I always lose myself while drawing or painting. But the last few months I have barely found the time to make art and have had lots of art project ideas waiting for me to do them. The drawing is called “Arachnophobia” and is meant to depict, in a surreal manner, a hand that has gestures similar to that of a spider. While I appreciate art that is aesthetically comforting, I think that art should also help us confront and explore our emotions and fears.

After lunch I had my first meeting with the Nala Feminist Collective, who are sponsoring me to attend COP27. I was very excited to meet women feminist African climate activists from all over the continent. They all had inspiring stories to tell, and I cannot wait to meet them at COP27.

The remainder of the day was a chance to rest. I used this free time to prepare my papers finalizing my admission at my new university. I also took the time to read more of the book I’m currently reading called “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff. An economics professor gifted me this book after we talked about the dangers of capitalism when we met at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) congress. So I am looking forward to finishing this book. 

“After lunch I had my first meeting with the Nala Feminist Collective, who are sponsoring me to attend COP27. I was very excited to meet women feminist African climate activists from all over the continent.” (Courtesy of Insaf Abdelmoula)

Friday, October 14

Today I had to wake up early and unfortunately didn’t have time to go for a morning run, but at least I still managed to meditate. There has been a shortage of gas lately and I had to go to the city center, so I left early to catch a taxi.

I spent the entire day at a seminar for the official Tunisian delegation to prepare for COP27. I got to meet several of the youth delegates that until now I had only interacted with online. I also got to meet some people nominated from different ministries to attend COP27, and it was insightful to hear what they had to say and how their ministry is affected by climate change.

We finished around 6 p.m., that’s when I finally went home. I cleaned up and ate some food, then I had an online meeting with UNICEF at 8 p.m. The meeting was with the moderator and some of the speakers from the Sunday meeting between the delegation and the youth activists. The meeting is less than two days away and I am very excited for it, but I am also anxious about how well it will go.

Saturday, October 15

Sadly I woke up feeling sick and it wasn’t easy to leave bed. But I had to push myself out of bed because today I have a lot of work to do.

I decided to attend the second part of the delegation preparation meeting online which also lasted all day. I was saddened that I couldn’t physically attend, as I was looking forward to socializing more with people from the delegation and getting to know their work more.

Insaf attends COP24 in Katowice, Poland in 2018. (Courtesy of Insaf Abdelmoula)

At the end of the day, I had another training session with the young activists who will be meeting the delegation on Sunday. We had a nice discussion about how climate change is affecting their local communities from all over the country. Tunisia has unfortunately lost significant portions of our forests to wildfires that were hard to tame, most of the farmers are struggling to adapt their crops and farming methods to the new climate and water scarcity has become an eminent threat to all.

I am less nervous about tomorrow but I am still excited about how it’s gonna turn out.

Sunday, October 16

Today was the day I had been working towards the whole week! So in the morning I made sure to arrive at the venue early to welcome the youth activists and the delegates who were joining us. We started a little late because many of the activists came from far away, some were even on the bus for six hours before they finally got here. So it meant a lot to me that they care so much about their communities that they made the effort to come all that way to express their concerns to the delegation. The discussion between the activists and the delegation was very fruitful and I was very proud to see how well-informed and well-aware the youth were. They were even discussing very technical aspects of climate policy like the Article 6 infrastructure, something that even some negotiators still can’t do. By the end of the discussion, which lasted all morning, everyone congratulated me on the success of the session and it made me very happy that my hard work paid off — especially knowing that now youth climate activists from all over Tunisia are competent in climate policy and know what goes on in climate negotiations. 

“Tunisia has unfortunately lost significant portions of our forests to wildfires that were hard to tame, most of the farmers are struggling to adapt their crops and farming methods to the new climate and water scarcity has become an eminent threat to all,” Insaf shares. (Courtesy of Insaf Abdelmoula)

After the event I went to a coffee shop with the delegates who came, and we had a little meeting to figure out the logistics of COP27. I am very excited to be working with these driven people on a cause that is very dear to my heart! Then in the afternoon I went home and finally had time to start my new art project.

Wednesday, October 19

Today I woke up early and went for a morning run, then meditated as usual. Then I ran errands and started preparing my visa papers and getting ready to move to a different country. I spent a great portion of the day looking for accomodation in Brussels, but it’s really hard to find something affordable and close to the university.

In the afternoon I was invited as a party delegate to attend UNICEF’s briefing for COP27 climate negotiators on advancing children’s rights in climate action. I think that we can’t build effective climate policy without the inclusion of youth. 

Then at the end of the day I met some friends and we caught up on how each person is doing. It’s always nice to meet friends, especially when you haven’t seen them in a long time!