CBM Global and OPD partners share climate advocacy journey so far

News | July 7, 2024

Mary Keogh, CBM Global Advocacy Director, and Mahbub Kabir, Advocacy and Inclusion Advisory Manager at CBM Ireland, recently participated in the Sensing Climate Conversation Series alongside Gordon Rattray from the European Disability Forum. This engagement underscores CBM Global’s commitment as a member of the project’s advisory board, and highlights CBM Ireland’s forthcoming collaboration with the Sensing Climate team for joint activities planned in 2025.

The 90-minute discussion covered a broad spectrum of critical issues affecting the disability community, notably the absence of representative organisations in decision-making roles, the compartmentalization of policy responses, and the insufficient funding and resources allocated to disability organisations and the broader disability movement. The dialogue also explored potential solutions, emphasizing the necessity of holistic movement building and the significance of forming supportive alliances.

“It’s really trying to galvanise the energy behind that major reform piece and the opportunities with that. As advocates, that’s what we have to do because advocates can’t give up. And you’ve got your spectrum of advocates, activists – you’ve got the more kind of radical, you’ve got the more mainstream and kind of centrist approach – we need all of it. But we do also need to make sure that we are not burning out. And I think the piece around that is how you bring the movements together for that collective change, rather than it being led by any one sector, we need that really collaborative approach.”

For those interested in more details or who wish to revisit the discussion, a recording and transcript of the session are available here.

This series is part of ongoing efforts to amplify the voice of the disability community in global conversations about climate change and policymaking, ensuring that these perspectives and needs are not only recognised but actively incorporated into planning and action frameworks.

To find out more about the Sensing Climate project, please click here.

Read CBM Global Climate Advocacy roadmap here.

The purpose of the roadmap is to set out our intended direction of travel for climate advocacy (2023 – 2026). Our hope is that international, regional and national level climate policies will fully reflect the inclusion of persons with disabilities. This is needed in advance of the Global Disability Summit in 2025 so as to help shape upcoming global processes for future development frameworks.

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