Nigeria, Nov. 23 -- The opening and closing of COP30 were marked by significant events. Not about climate ambition or high sounding speeches but by unplanned events. First was the determined entry into the COP venue by indigenous protesters, who felt excluded from the conference and needed to be heard.

They charged through the security and raised the critical question about who was really at the table and whose cause was being negotiated. One of their demands was that they want their lands "free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers." The second event was the fire outbreak at one of the pavilions within the Blue Zone in the morning of 20 November - a day before the scheduled closure of the conference. As ...