Get involved: Dear World Leaders

This course aims to offer, share and generate knowledge from within our learning community but it is also about provoking and inspiring action! We are keen for everyone to feel that they are able to lend their voice – should they so wish – to the campaigns and collective action coming to and emerging from COP27.

As a way of ‘kickstarting’ this move to action, we are sharing one campaign that began in 2021 and is running throughout COP27 – the #DearWorldLeaders campaign.

This UN Development Programme (UNDP) initiative aims to mobilise citizens to push for action on the climate crisis. They want to ‘ensure that decision makers all around the globe hear citizens’ voices clearly’. The campaign can also be understood as a time capsule preserving the anxiety, frustrations and hopes of people from all over the planet.

The climate crisis is already happening and we need action FAST. Remind world leaders of what’s at stake. The more we speak up, the more they’ll know how they have to act.

– Dear World Leaders (2022)

Now, and throughout the duration of COP27, you can visit Dear World Leaders to send your own message to world leaders to remind them of what’s at stake. Or you can simply explore the range of messages already posted, like the one below from Alicia Burton, Dominica.

You can also follow the campaign on Twitter, if you use that platform, with the hashtag #DearWorldLeaders.

This is just one example of one campaign that is happening live at COP27. We recognise that there will be many similar and different campaigns and movements emerging and ongoing within your own contexts and communities.

We therefore invite you to share your own campaigns below so that our learning community can see the range of activities and movements responding to COP27.

• UNDP: “UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”