Yeb Sano, a Filipino activist attending his 22nd UN Climate Change Conference: 'Despite the challenges, we cannot afford to lose hope'

A powerful typhoon had just struck the Philippines. Standing before delegates at a United Nations climate conference (COP), the Filipino negotiator, Yeb Sano, took the floor. “The devastation is staggering. I agonize, waiting for word for the fate of my very own relatives,” he said, on the verge of tears. He continued, visibly moved, calling for “drastic action” to fight climate change. He urged that “loss and damage” – those irreversible impacts that have become “a reality” – be taken into account. He called for greater mobilization of financial resources, particularly to help countries adapt to the effects of global warming. “We can stop this madness,” he declared, before breaking down, his head buried in a red scarf.

The date was November 11, 2013, at the opening of COP19 in Warsaw, Poland. At the end of Sano’s speech, the packed hall rose to applaud him. At that moment, the young delegate became one of the faces of the fight against the climate crisis. The toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most violent ever recorded, would rise to more than 6,000 dead and millions displaced.

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