The Climate Window

In November 2021 I had the chance to travel to Jalalabad (Nangarhar province), in Afghanistan. I was part of a mission where we were consulting with local NGOs and communities to explore possibilities for future resilience-building projects . The whole trip was really exciting and curious for me, because it was one of the few field missions I could undertake since I was working for the country, and it happened when the Taliban were already in power. The security situation for UN people improved - we were not a target anymore - so we could visit areas that we could not easily reach before. Jalalabad (and surroundings) was one of them. I have many memories from that trip that, as a woman, I am still processing today. I have a special one I would like to share.  My team and I went to a village where we already were supporting a local NGO, working with women. They offered big (and beautiful) goats to selected women (families) with special vulnerability needs, so they could improve thei...

When back in 2019 I first landed in Mogadishu , I remember feeling at my hometown, Almería (South-East of Spain). The smell of the sea, the air humidity, the intense sun. Unfortunately, that feeling only lasted a few seconds, as the security conditions did not allow to stay much time at the airport. In fact, the airport seemed almost owned by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS)’s planes and helicopters. I come from a very dry part of Spain. Also, a few decades ago, it was one of the poorest regions in Europe. Nevertheless, it went through a process of agricultural development that positioned it to be where it stands today: a world leader in terms of fresh food production, competing with Israel in terms of drylands knowledge and technology. They learnt to use and re-use every drop of water, every ray of sun, and to deal with the continuous wind that made our land the only desert in Europe. And the results are amazing: this little sunny corner of Spain produces and expor...

 Hello, This is Maria. With this new blog I intend to share my thoughts and experiences as a ‘climate worker’. I have been dealing with climate change issues since 2009, from different organizations, in different countries and under changing roles. I have a mixed academic background, feed by international law, social economy, and environment and sustainable development. Above all these fields, my main driver has always been the defense and materialization of basic human rights; rights that are alive and evolve, adjusting to new needs and challenges.  Maybe, as Mary Robinson pointed out, climate change is our biggest human rights challenge; David Attenborough also saw in climate change ‘the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced’. I agree with both of them, and also with Ban Ki-Moon, when he said that ‘addressing climate change presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all´.  Climate change, well understo...