Climate activists say space for protest has shrunk at Cop28
Protests have been an important feature of the UN’s climate summits since Cop1 in 1995, when the world paid little attention and just a few hundred government officials gathered in Berlin.
That was unrecognisable from the Cop28 talks under way amid the glittering skyscrapers of Dubai, sprawling across the vast complex of Expo City and with the eyes of the world watching as negotiators try to agree a strong deal to phase out the use of fossil fuels.
Yet while the Conference of the Parties has kept on growing as the need for climate action gets more urgent, the space for protest at the summit has dramatically shrunk in the last two years, with these talks standing in stark contrast to the vibrant and populous spectacle witnessed at Cop26 in, where thousands marched on the roads demanding climate justice.
