Tufail Husain, our UK Director, recently visited Sudan to meet families affected by the worst flooding to hit the country in decades. He writes about his trip in the Metro:
For the world’s poorest, the climate crisis may be just as deadly as coronavirus
One night in early September, sisters Tahani, Nayla, Alawiya and Firiyal woke up in the middle of the night to something most of us only experience in our worst nightmares. Flood water was up to their necks in the room they all shared.
Soon, the walls of the house collapsed as the building couldn’t stand the amount of water. Miraculously, along with the help of local volunteers, they managed to help each other to get away, and are now in a camp for hundreds of displaced people who have fled their homes. This is due to the worst flooding Sudan has seen in decades.
Tahani, who along with her other sisters is deaf, told me her story using her finger in the sand while inside their cramped tent. Like most people in the camp, she and her sisters had nothing but the clothes on their backs…
… This month COP26 – the UN’s annual climate change conference – was meant to take place in Glasgow. It was supposed to shine a spotlight on the UK government’s efforts to decarbonise our economy and on the many inspirational people who work up and down the country fighting for their future. Because of the pandemic, this has been postponed for a year. But unlike the weddings, festivals and holidays that have been cancelled in 2020, this conference was time sensitive in determining all of our futures.
On my trip to Sudan, I saw entire villages destroyed; swathes of farmland submerged and livestock completely perished; areas where large bodies of stagnant and filthy water remains and has already contaminated local water supplies.
It is people living in the least economically secure countries like Sudan who will bear the brunt of climate change impacts.