Green Libraries at COP25: warriors who spread knowledge about Climate Change

Supposedly, everyone already knows that the COP25 held in Madrid ought to have taken place in Chile. At least people who are interested in what is happening to the climate. That, for the moment, is not so good.

The change of venue to Madrid has been completely unexpected and everything has had to be done in a rush, with a tremendous effort on the part of all those involved, is also, at least, imaginable.

And the people and organisations participating might be divided, on this occasion and exceptionally, into two categories: those who have long known that they will attend for professional reasons, such as the members of the delegations of the countries that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the organisations that act as observers, United Nations staff, and others.

And those who just over a month ago had no inkling that within a few weeks they would be part of this event, the most important and globally significant annual international meeting, the Conference of the Parties, the supreme decision making body of the UNFCCC.

For the former, their presence in Madrid may have involved a “mere” change to their travel plans. But for the latter, their participation in the COP was initially a shock; then a show of reflexes, coordination and enthusiasm in equal parts; and finally, enormous satisfaction.

Additionally, they serve as an example of how the United Nations’ acceptance of Spain's offer to host the COP mobilised dozens of organisations and hundreds of people with the same goal and enthusiasm to make it happen and make it a success. After the first week, both objectives have been more than satisfactorily achieved.

In the Green Zone (the area allocated for direct participation of organisations from different fields of civil society, making them a core aspect of the summit, all with the common denominator of climate action, and the only area open to the general public) on the right by the entrance, is the Green Libraries stand. This Network of Environmental Information and Documentation Centres, RECIDA coordinated by the National Centre for Environmental Education (CENEAM), part of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. It is made up of 126 environmental documentation centres and libraries, dependent on public, state, regional and local bodies, foundations, universities and NGOs.

The librarians and documentalists responsible for these centres saw the Government's invitation to civil society, through the Ministry of Ecological Transition, as a historic opportunity to participate in the summit by means of parallel events. They mobilised to present their proposal and it was accepted.

The Ministry received about 1,400 applications, so one might say they were lucky. Of course, like everything in this COP25, the time frame was a little tight. They received official notification just a week before the COP began.

The WhatsApp and email accounts used by these workers got very busy. Rosario Toril, CENEAM documentalist and group coordinator, recalls that “it was the first time, in the 15 years that the network has been around, that I asked for help. In capital letters and in red". When they came down to it, "it was an incredible opportunity to bring all the centres together and raise our profile." There would be difficulties, of course. Among them, as well as the lack of time, “people had to get permission from their workplaces to come and staff the stand, make travel arrangements, etc. But, everyone managed very well. Because, those who were able to come, did, and those who were not sent material to occupy the space they were assigned”. And, by the way, they didn't know how much space that was going to be.

“The thing is that we started working before they had answered us and started thinking about what we could do. We even made a poster with Warrior 13, regarding SDG 13, which is climate change. Because we are warriors who work to spread knowledge about climate change”.

In the end, participation in the Green Zone at the COP turned out to be a success that deserves to be told and recognised. They managed to organise no less than three daily activities in a few square metres: “We had an SDG escape game; a YouTuber discussion; we streamed the presentation of the European Environment Report, SOER 2020, etc.”

The other activities included several book presentations, "we contacted 13 or 14 publishers specialised in the environment, apologising for the rush but explaining that it was just the way things had turned out, and asking them to put us in contact with authors with new works so that they could present their books at the event. The response from the publishers was excellent. Some even brought the books themselves. We needed the authors to be in Madrid also, because there was no time to make travel arrangements. Everyone responded phenomenally. We are very grateful for the magnificent response”.

Other activities emerged during the event itself, as we went along. "This is the case of a librarian from the University of Minnesota, United States, which has a similar climate library network. He was visiting the Green Zone and asked if he could explain what libraries like ours did in the United States. Why yes, of course! We made some room for him on the spot, changed the posters to advertise it and, that was that!”

Initially, the Green Zone was planned to go on for a day, a week, or even longer. “Right from the start, everything went really fast, we said a week because we didn’t think we could cover any more. However, the truth is that once we got going and saw what was happening, it seemed a shame. In the end, we asked for more time, they gave us a few more days and we are delighted”.

Who knows, when the COP is over, people might even feel sad to see it go.