‘Dreams reduced to memories’: COP29 world leaders lay out first-hand experiences of climate change

At the UN climate talks, nations big and small have had the chance to bear witness to climate change.

More than two dozen world leaders delivered remarks at the United Nations’ annual climate conference Wednesday. Many hard-hit nations used the opportunity to detail their nations’ firsthand experience with the catastrophic weather that has come with climate change.

Leader after leader recounted climate disasters, with each one seeming to top the other. Grenada’s prime minister Dickon Mitchell detailed a 15-month drought at the beginning of the year giving way to a Category 5 Hurricane Beryl.

“At this very moment, as I stand here yet again, my island has been devastated by flash flooding, landslides and the deluge of excessive rainfall, all in the space of a matter of a couple hours,” Mitchell said.

“It may be small island developing states today. It will be Spain tomorrow. It will be Florida the day after. It’s one planet.”