In Glasgow, Scotland, where a record 40,000 delegates are convening in conference rooms for the COP26 U.N. Climate Change Conference, a different scene is unfolding on the streets outside — and across the globe.
“No one who is actually important is here,” Raeesah Noor-Mahomed, a 19-year-old from South Africa, told The Washington Post. “The people who are actually important are back at home.”
Women are also underrepresented at COP26, prompting the Scottish Government and UN Women to release a statement calling for more women’s leadership in climate negotiations. From pregnant people caught in natural disasters to threatened sacred land that Native and Indigenous women steward — climate change disproportionately affects women and girls who often shoulder the brunt of its effects on homelessness, poverty and sexual violence.
With the two-week conference now past the halfway mark, we compiled photos of women and girl activists protesting around the world.
Protesters take part in a rally organized by the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow on Nov. 6. (Jane Barlow/AP)
People hold up signs and banners at a protest in Glasgow. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
People protest in Lahore, Pakistan, on Nov. 8. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
Demonstrators march in Glasgow on Nov. 6. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
Indigenous people attend a protest during COP26 in Glasgow on Nov. 6. (Yves Herman/Reuters)
Demonstrators in Glasgow. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
A demonstrator, with fake blood on her hands, holds up a sign during a protest in Istanbul on Nov. 6. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images)
Protesters wear costumes at a demonstration in support of victims of oil exploration and against fossil fuel investments in Africa during COP26 in Glasgow on Nov. 7. (Yves Herman/Reuters)
Climate protesters use fake newspapers to mock world leaders at a protest on Nov. 7. (Robert Perry/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg marches through the streets of Glasgow on Nov. 5. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)
