Land, Life, Legacy… A Scrapbook from Abidjan

Experience from the UNCCD COP15

 

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” 

– Anita Desai

 

IFSA showed us the path to unite across the globe, IFSA made the scope to meet people across the globe. Stepping out of the box, welcoming everyone from every corner of the globe, exchanging values and living the moment… experiencing these glimpses of life showers the opportunity to know more about people and cultures.

On the occasion of the UNCCD COP15, a small yet diverse group of people joined together to step into a colourful city of West Africa on the southern Atlantic coast of Côte d’Ivoire. From 9th to 20th May, 2022, we not only experienced the economic capital of this country but also learnt to overcome the communication hurdles in this French-speaking country ! Despite the ups and downs of daily life in this city, we found our comfort zones during our focused sessions and events by the organisations like UNEP, CGIAR, GLF, FAO, UNICEF, etc; eminent personalities, experts and young leaders. Hopping from Rio Pavillion to African Pavilion, from Plenary Hall to Youth Forum Panel, we tried to gain the exposure of knowledge, education and research during round table discussions, open discussion, interactive dialogue and to meet people from different corners of the globe with different culture and traditions, yet all focused on a single moto – to save the life on land and carry on this legacy of land.

When young minds come together, they can change the world; I heard, read this before but I observed during my small 15 days trip. Starting with a group of two people from IFSA on the first day of COP15, we reached the venue, the Sofitel Hotel of Abidjan after a  long process of security and formalities for safety purposes. Within two days, we turned into a group of 11 young people coming from Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Haiti, Chile, Nigeria, Kenya and India. Isn’t it beautiful and amazing? Discussing their own work in their countries to mundane multiverse conversations, jumping over a mixture of multi cuisine dinners to going for random food tasting sessions, we had it all !

I have witnessed the high level discussions at plenary hall and have been inspired by the young leaders to work for land. I have learnt the core meaning of carrying the legacy, legacy to protect the future. Until you pledge to continue the legacy of protecting the land, you can’t protect the legacy of life. Concerning, isn’t it?

Abidjan, the small piece of land at another corner of the globe, taught me the meaning of life. Life is not just a living entity, but also the way of living. Living a life to embrace every little thing of the world, whether it is people or nature or culture or heritage or tradition. Without one of them, everything either evolves or becomes extinct. The cultural and knowledge exchange I experienced, have evolved my thoughts and outlook of life for sure. I believe I will be carrying one of the greatest legacy of life. 

I reached Abidjan with a lot of thoughts; scary thoughts of travelling to a country whose official language I don’t speak, self-conscious thought of welcoming everyone and every opportunity, thoughts of not letting people down who believed in me to execute responsibilities I came for. It has been more than one month since I have returned from Abidjan but the memories are vivid and fresh ! 

I went with a blank page from India and now ? I have the most colourful scrapbook I am going to carry forever !

Written by : Esha Mitra