“I’m hoping that this tragedy could be the turning point” to take the climate crisis more seriously, says Nissa Bek.
Nissa Bek, I wanted to ask you: What has been the role of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs? And also, given the fact that for the past 10 years, ever since the killing of Gaddafi, Libya has been — has had to deal with competing or conflicting governments, two governments within the same country.
Yes, that did have an effect, logistical effect. For example, even the aid that Egypt is offering, they’re not actually communicating with the government that is acknowledged by the international community. They are in touch with General Haftar in the east, which is the government that is not recognized by the international community, which means that whatever agreement is taking place as we speak right now, the actual president of the country has no idea what is going on. So, in that sense, yes, it’s quite an issue logistically. But like I said before, it’s mainly a climate and environmental issue, because, like I said, a huge part of climate or our strategy to combat climate or natural disasters is about the risk reduction strategies that’s supposed to be submitted during COPs, but they’re not submitting anything. As for the role of the Environmental Affairs Ministry, they’re supposed to be playing the biggest role in this, but they’re not playing any role at all. But to be completely honest, I have a source that told me that the minister of environmental affairs has been submitting a lot of projects and a lot of proposals to President Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh; however, he is the one who is rejecting all of those proposals. He just keeps postponing them. And therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs is not receiving any funding. And according to the employees of the ministry, they haven’t received their paychecks for over two years. So they are working without getting paid. And it’s been like that for over two years.And what about the reality that as Libya confronts the increasing dangers of the climate crisis, it still depends largely as a nation for its foreign income on oil and gas?Yes. And we have spoken about that, you know? We’ve spoken a lot about that. And they’re still signing deals with countries such as Italy for the next 20 years and the next 30 years, so they don’t seem to take the whole climate issue seriously. And in fact, if you’ve spoken to any of the decision-makers regarding this, they’re like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we understand. But we don’t have to worry about that now.” That’s usually their reply. And I’m hoping that this tragedy could be the turning point for all of this, and for them to actually take the climate crisis more seriously.Nissa, rich countries agreed to establish a loss and damage fund at the close of last year’s U.N. climate summit in Egypt, dealing specifically with the Global South, the worst effects of the climate catastrophe. The fund was a major breakthrough for Global South countries, which have been demanding a similar mechanism for the last 30 years but faced opposition from the United States and other large polluting nations. What are your demands of wealthier nations?To be completely honest, yes, the main issue or the root of the issue goes back to the polluting countries, such as the United States, but in this very specific situation, I cannot really say that it is their responsibility to fix what happened, because, like I mentioned earlier, it’s obviously our government’s fault. And the problem with this fund, that it’s not going to bring the lives that we lost back. It is something that comes later on. You know, when it’s time to actually reconstruct Derna, a lot of these countries will be putting, you know, some funds in order to help us reconstruct it. But at what cost? I mean, at that point, we’ve already lost so many people, and we don’t know how many other people we’re going to lose in the upcoming few years if we don’t actually deal with the problems more seriously. So, right now I cannot think of, like, “Oh, it’s because of the U.S., it’s because of China,” you know? I don’t have that kind of mindset. Right now it’s because of my own government. In the future, however, I really need all states, whether they’re from the Global South or the Global North, to take this fund seriously and, most importantly, take COP seriously, take their NDCs and NAP submissions more seriously. They’ve seen what happens when you don’t take it seriously. You need a risk reduction strategy. You need to, you know, put forward a plan on, like, what are we going to do in case this happens. You know, Libya has a very low level of precipitation. We don’t even have a lot of rainfall. And they’re like, “Flooding? What are the chances of us, you know, going through a flooding?” Well, there you go. So, that’s what I’m expecting. Yeah.Well, Nissa, I want to thank you so much for being with us. We’ll continue to follow what’s happening in Libya. Nissa Bek is a youth climate activist, joining us from Tripoli, Libya. Coming up, “How Columbia University Ignored Women, Undermined Prosecutors and Protected a Predator for More Than 20 Years.” Stay with us.Truthout is non-profit and funded almost entirely by readers like you. For over two decades, we’ve published the latest developments in politics, uplifted movements for social justice, and uncovered wrongdoing wherever it hides. Today, along with many independent media organizations, we’re facing a shortfall in our fundraising efforts. The deficit we’re experiencing is frightening and could have a long-term impact on our work.No matter your gift size – whether $5, $10, or $50 – it all makes a difference for our small newsroom.
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