Larchmont Rotary's January 27th luncheon at the Larchmont Yacht Club spotlighted Alex Vo's presentation on her experiences at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in late November.
 
COP27 took place at a large exhibition hall in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh.  Alex attended as the UN Liaison for her NGO, FAWCO (Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas). She spoke about the major topics, outcomes and what happened behind the scenes.  Over 44,000 attended from over 200 nations and various organizations.
 
Alex's talk covered the last three conferences.  In 2015, at COP21 in Paris, 196 nations signed the Paris Agreement, which pledged to limit global warming by an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius.  This will require zero emissions sometime between 2030 and 2050 according to some scientists.
 
In 2021, at COP26 in Glasgow, a climate pact was negotiated through the consensus of 197 attending parties. It was the first climate deal to explicitly commit to reducing the use of coal.  It also encouraged more urgent greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
 
 
One year later, COP27's objective was implementation of the Paris Agreement. This included arrangements for the loss and damage caused by climate change. Alex stated the four main objectives:
 
1.    Mitigation
2.    Adaptation
3.    Climate finance
4.    Implementation of adaptation and mitigation methods
 
Alex discussed her travel and living arrangements, and daily commutation to the conference center. She heard and met many well-known Americans, including: President Biden, House Speaker Pelosi, Secretary of State Blinken, John Kerry, Michael Bloomberg and Samantha Power.  During the presentation, she showed several video clips from the conference to give her audience a better look at her experiences.
 
 

 
We had another good turn-out for the event. Prior to Alex's presentation, Area Governor Sandy Wolstein presented the Level 2 Paul Harris pin to our longtime member, Marian White, for her generous donations to the Rotary Foundation Fund.
 

 
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