Cairo, October 27 (IPS) – The official COP 27 Youth Envoy, Dr Omnia El Omrani, recognized the impact of climate change in 2017, and that Hurricane Irma hit Miami.
As a doctor, she witnessed a flood of emergency patients entering the hospital as a result of the hurricane, which sparked her interest in environmental and climate issues. She describes it as an important milestone in her life.
“Therefore, I decided to become an activist in the fields of public health and climate change in the following years. I did this by attending events as a representative. of a global organization of young medical students and doctors, starting with the COP24 Climate Change Summit in Poland in 2018 and continuing through the Glasgow Conference in the UK in 2021”. Omnia said in an interview with IPS.
El Omrani is an Egyptian plastic and reconstructive surgery resident, community leader and climate change activist. She was appointed by the President-designate of 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27)Sameh Shoukry.
Host country Egypt has committed to empowering young people. It sees the role of the youth envoy as a way to encourage and promote youth views before COP27 and during negotiations and conferences.
El Omrani sees itself as central to engaging the world’s young people to COP27 to advance climate action and implementation with key interventions needed for its implementation-focused strategy. conference.
The COY17’s Youth Climate Summit The most important outcome was to develop a statement that reflected young people’s perceptions of the problem – and suggested solutions.
The coordination of the youth statement began before the COY17 youth summit, and YOUNGO with working groups that will review and edit a draft version in Sharm El-Sheikh from November 2 to 4, after which it will be sent to the COP27 chair, she explained.
“The unique thing we are going to do this year On Young and Future Generation Day (November 10), we will have a roundtable discussion instead of a board discussion at COP27. Here we will gather senior officials, negotiators and ministers and YOUNGOs to discuss the statement and (debate) how to implement it,” El Omrani said.
YOUNGO is the official youth constituency of the UNFCCC.
“It is difficult to convince rich nations to turn commitments into actual funding, but certain approaches can help,” said El Omrani.
These approaches include providing solid evidence of the impacts of climate change. For example, floods in Pakistan this year have caused great damage to the economy of the country. Small island states share similar problems. Likewise, intense heat waves have swept through Europe.
El Omrani, 27, has represented more than 1.3 million medical students, led global policy and advocacy work on climate change with UNFCCC, UNEP and WHO, and participated in projects climate action projects across Egypt and the world.
El Omrani is the National Public Officer for the International Medical Students Association, the MENA Focal Point, and the Liaison Officer for Public Health Affairs.
She has participated in climate discussions at COP24, COP25 and COP26, environmental projects and international climate conferences, such as WHO civil society group to promote climate and health.
“I believe it is my responsibility to inform people about the importance of climate change in my community and in the institution where I work as a physician. I also believe that I must send these messages to the decision makers and urge them to take action on this issue,” she added.
“I am currently developing a curriculum at universities to raise awareness of climate change issues, not only in Egypt but across Africa, in partnership with the University of Ain. Shams in Egypt.”
Besides, she participates in many charity activities and projects coordinated by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the European Union, The Lancet Science Journal and other international groups, focusing on health, women’s issues and climate change.
Report of the United Nations Office IPS
By @IPSNewsUNBureau
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