12/06/23 12/06/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the u.n. climate summit in dubai in the united arab emirates, this is democracy now! >> there were 30 people inside the house. 20 of them were children. we went to sleep and all of a

sudden what happened to us and we don't know, the fire hit us. all of it collapsed on top of us. amy: israel's attack on gaza is now being described as one of the worst assaults on any civilian population in recent times. as israeli tanks drive deeper into khan younis and the palestinian death toll tops 16,000, we will go to gaza for the latest. then here at the u.n. climate summit, democracy now! attempt to question the uae oil ceo who is presiding over the climate talks. can you answer a question from the press? can you tell us why there are 2500 fossil fuel lobbyists here? dr. al-jaber, can you tell us if there should be a fossil fuel phaseout? we will get an update on the u.n. climate summit and look at

how the uae is buying up land across africa as part of an initiative called blue carbon. and we will speak to leading russian environmentalist as vladimir putin visits the uae and saudi arabia today. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from dubai in the united arab emirates from the u.n. climate summit. these are the headlines. in gaza, israeli tanks are pushing further into the southern city of khan younis as its deadly ground assault continues and palestinian casualties rise. the few functioning hospitals remain completely swamped with an influx of injured people, many of them children.

the who called the assault on gaza "humanity's darkest hour." at least 16,200 palestinians in gaza have been killed since october 7. the u.n.'s top humanitarian relief coordinator said israel's attack in southern gaza has been as devastating as in the north, with the apocalyptic conditions preventing the delivery of aid. some 85% of the population has now been displaced. >> we suffer from the were cannons. now we cannot find food. we divide one tomato between all of us. there is no safe place. they finish off one place at a time and only god knows where we will and up. we do not know what our destiny is.

today i need but i do not know if i will eat tomorrow. amy: meanwhile, an israeli spokesperson appeared on cnn and touted a report released this week which said the idf killed some 5000 hamas fighters, which will equal roughly two civilians killed for every hamas member. >> you will find that ratio is tremendously positive and perhaps unique in the world. amy: the comments were swiftly condemned and the accuracy of the figures have apparently not been verified outside the israel i military. the biden administration announced tuesday it would ban visas for israeli settlers involved in surging west bank violence. israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 260 palestinians and wounded over 3000 palestinians in the occupied west bank since october . the rare rebuke of israel by the

u.s. government comes as the senate is voting today on biden's $106 billion spending package which would send more military funding to ukraine and israel. senate republicans vowed to block the package over its lack of funding for so-called border security. vermont senator bernie sanders spoke out against the bill on the senate floor monday. >> i do not believe we should be appropriating over $10 million for the right wing extremist netanyahu government to continue its current military approach. what the netanyahu government is doing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the united states should not be complicit. amy: despite his condemnation of israeli violence, sanders has refused to call for a ceasefire in gaza. 13 house democrats and one republican, congressmember thomas massie, voted against a new resolution explicitly

equating anti-zionism with antisemitism tuesday. 92 democrats voted "present." the resolution also states the phrase "from the river to the sea," a popular slogan at protests for palestinian rights, is a call for the "eradication of the state of israel and the jewish people." rashida tlaib, the only palestinian-american congressmember, wrote -- "opposing the policies of the government of israel and netanyahu's extremism is not antisemitic. speaking up for human rights and a ceasefire to save lives should never be condemned." this comes amid a mounting offensive by aipac, the american israel public affairs committee, to unseat progressives who speak up for palestinian rights. earlier today, westchester county executive george latimer, who has been courted by aipac, announced he is launching a primary challenge against new york congressmember jamaal bowman. last month, two michigan

democrats running for the u.s. senate revealed aipac offered them $20 million to instead primary congressmember tlaib for her house seat. nasser beydoun, a lebanese-american businessman, and hill harper, a hollywood actor-turned-politician, both turned aipac down. meanwhile, a new book by journalist ryan grim reports an aipac representative approached congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez with an offer to raise $100,000 after her stunning 2018 win. the fundraising was presented as an opening salvo to start the conversation about aoc's position on israel. the u.n. on monday heard accounts of sexual assaults during hamas october 7 attack on israel. speakers also criticized the u.n. and others for failing to promptly investigate and condemn sexual crimes.

sheryl sandberg was a key speaker. hillary clinton sent videotape remarks. president biden on tuesday condemned hamas for the alleged attacks, which the group has denied. the non-profit physicians for human rightsisrael released a port last month detailing survivor accounts of sexual assaults, which it said were widespread on october 7. this is orit soliciano, head of israel's association of rape crisis centres. >> there is information from people who saw what happened, but everybody should understand there should not be in anticipation that survivals will come -- survivors will come and speak out loud. this is a horrible thing.

amy: here in the united states, 400 military nominees were swiftly confirmed by the senate tuesday, just hours after alabama republican tommy tuberville lifted his 10-month blockade on the majority of appointments. tuberville had been protesting a completely unrelated pentagon policy that pays out-of-state travel costs for its staff to receive abortion care. he finally relented after mounting pressure from fellow republicans and threats from democrats to temporarily change senate rules in order to bypass the blockade. in related news, the military's top sexual assault prosecutor has been fired after an email surfaced in which he undermined assault allegations of survivors. brigadier general warren wells sent the email to staff in 2013, which read, in part -- "expect no commander to be able to make objective decisions involving allegations as long as congress and our political

masters are dancing by the fire of misleading statistics and one-sided, repetitive misinformation by those with an agenda." in texas, a pregnant woman has filed an emergency lawsuit seeking to terminate her non-viable pregnancy. 31-year-old kate cox is 20 weeks pregnant with a fetus that has been diagnosed with trisomy 18, a fatal condition, but is unable to get the abortion she needs due to texas's sweeping ban. it's the first legal complaint filed in texas since the ban was enacted and reads -- "ms. cox's physicians have informed her that their 'hands are tied' and she will have to wait until her baby dies inside her or carry the pregnancy to term, at which point she will be forced to have a third c-section, only to watch her baby suffer until death." in nigeria, president bola tinubu ordered an investigation following a miscalculated

military drone strike that killed at least 85 civilians sunday in the village of tudun biri in northwest kaduna state. the victims were gathering for a religious celebration, marking the birthday of the prophet muhammad. this is a survivor recounting the tragic attack. >> we were celebrating when the airplane came and dropped the bomb. some died, some got injured. we all ran into house. when the men heard, they came out to check and that is when they dropped the second one and more people died. amy: drones are estimated to have erroneously killed some 400 civilians since 2017 in attacks that were targeting armed groups in the north of nigeria. honduran authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the suspected mastermind in the 2016 murder of indigenous environmental leader berta caceres. daniel atala midence is the former financial manager of the hydroelectric company desa.

berta caceres was assassinated as she led the fight against desa's massive hydroelectric dam on a river in southwestern honduras that's sacred to the lenca people. last year, david castillo, a former u.s.-trained honduran military officer and businessman, was sentenced to over 22 years for his role in ordering and planning the assassination. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in dubai in the united arab emirates. we begin today's show in gaza as israeli tanks are moving into the center of khan younis, gaza's second largest city, after days of intense shelling and air strikes. palestinian health officials say the death toll in gaza has topped 16,200, including over 6600 children. this is a resident of khan younis speaking after israel

bombed his home. >> there were 30 people inside the house. 20 of them were children. children aged 15 days, one year, three years, four years. we set up a place for them to sleep throughout the bombardment. we put them to sleep. we went to sleep. all of a sudden what happened to us, we don't know. the fire hit us. all of it collapsed on top of us. none of us made it out completely ok. everybody is heard. how and why, we don't even understand what happened ourselves. we rushed to the hospitals to check on the children and came back this morning to check the house. look at this. i swear we don't even know how we made it out alive. amy: on tuesday, jan egeland, the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council, released a statement saying -- "the pulverizing of gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in

our time and age. each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell." we are joined now by yousef hammash, advocacy officer in gaza for the norwegian refugee council. he is joining us from rafah. thank you so much for being with us. if you can start off by talking about what is happening right now from khan younis where you were to rafah where you have fled now? >> thank you for hosting me. unfortunately, after seven days, we weren't expecting that we would see this madness getting increased. the madness is getting bigger and bigger. the bombing started in the south, the israeli led operation started taking place in khan younis entered gaza into three

pieces while it used to be into two parts. now it is three parts. we have gaza city in the middle area and rafah most of the ground operation started in the eastern part of khan younis. they asked residents to flee to rafah. that is what forced us to flee for the third time now to rafah. thousands have had to make the choice to flee to rafah and build these small tents made by wooden sticks and plastic under this harsh weather. we had to witness the same as we witnessed in the northern part of gaza when the military operation -- when the war started october 12 when they asked us to flee to the south and we did not have other option and we fled to the south and now we found ourselves doing it again. hopefully, it will be the last time.

this situation is catastrophic. people are using anyplace as a shelter. people are living on the sidewalks and streets. using anything to cover their heads as a shelter. it is a horrible situation but i don't know how to describe it. if you saw with your own eyes, would be shocked. we have never witnessed such horror. you can see it in people's face. they don't have any option. they're just looking for safety fleeing from one place to another place. amy: it is not usual in most situations where the journalists themselves are trying to save their own families and their own lives. as you report on the entire situation. if you can track your own journey with your family -- i think some 60 journalists, gazan and palestinian journalists from

about that number, have been killed in these last weeks, including the head of the gaza journalist association. so many cameramen and reporters. but if you can start with your journey, where you left first north and then going home to jabalia and go from there. and why in each situation, the terror and the destruction that you left behind. >> october 7, i deftly my house because i live near the border and it is the first areas to be targeted. i thought it was better for me to take my children and extended family to the center of the north, jabalia camp, convincing myself it would be a bit more safe. since the moment i did this decision, i did not care what i was going to lose, i was just

looking for the safety of my family. two or three days after the war, my house was targeted and family members houses were targeted. october 12 -- we had to stay at my grandparents house in jabalia . october 12, we started to receive these phone calls warning us about what is coming. then i had to decide to flee again from jabalia to the south based on what they asked as. again, i responsibility towards our children and extended families forced us to take these options. we fled to khan younis without anything, literally. we had to start our new life. i was lucky because i had some relatives there so i managed to find a roof to cover my head. i wasn't expecting we would live -- have to take this option again for the third time to go to rafah. unfortunately, we don't have the

option of a roof over our heads. for two days i am searching rafah looking for anyplace to shelter. unfortunately until now, i did not succeed to find a place. today i have to go to build a tent for my family, finding a safe place. we follow the instructions. i had to do the same as hundreds of thousands of other people in gaza who had to take that option also. i had to build a tent. i don't know how we will managed to fit in it, but this is the option we have. especially for two days when the military operation in khan younis, the horror we saw from the bombardment, the nonstop bombardment. i was calculating the timing between each missile was eight

seconds. imagine we were living in an earthquake and, again, i was us in situation with our children -- we cannot even provide protection for our children. my sister still useless because they cannot to anything for them. we had to convince ourselves again that we would be safe. there is no safe place in gaza, but we will do as much -- i will take whatever it takes. i will do it to protect my family. amy: you are not a journalist. you are an aid worker. you are an advocacy officer in gaza for the norwegian refugee council. but your descriptions of what is happening there are so critical. how do you do your work and the other 50 or so norwegian refugee

council workers do their work in gaza as they are being forced to flee? and are you trying to get now over the border from rafah into egypt? >> an, we're trying to do our best. this is why we are here. unfortunately, we are in the same situation like everyone. we were assisting the situation and trying to do a plan to help us much people in need. the entire population in gaza are in need. you have to understand situation in general. half the population before october 7 was requiring humanitarian aid. imagine this catastrophic situation added to the need of people. the entire population of gaza is in need. if you combine us as humanitarian actors, we cannot cover the need we are having. we used the seven days to manage to have our trucks into rafah

and to our distribution plan and try to assist as much as we can come up with them found ourselves -- even with the situation now, we are useless. we cannot protect ourselves even as he mentoring workers. there is no protection for any of us. we are all in gaza under the same circumstances. we are trying, but the situation is preventing us. trust me, many of my colleagues -- amy: can you talk about -- >> sorry, go ahead. amy: can you talk about what kind of aid is getting through and is not getting through? and what it means we you have something like 1.8 million, 1.9 million palestinians out of 2.3 million who are on the run? who are internally displaced? >> honestly, amy, all of us as

human attorney actors are like a drop in the ocean of need here. we keep asking for allowing more and more trucks of aid to enter but it is too political and everyone understands the situation now, there is no aid in. an accurate number for how many trucks these days we can get through rafah's too political the situation. trust me in the past few days, we were chasing our trucks. we were trying to find solutions how to get to rough the, manage two-story in someplace -- manage to store it someplace. it is nothing compared to the needs we're trying to do our best, even if it was a few people we can assist and help, it is something. but even to reach that small

something is not easy. it is almost impossible because of the situation where living. the amount of aid coming to gaza is -- not tangible. it is not affecting the need. it is not really affecting the amount of need that we are having in gaza. amy: i want to thank you so much for being with us. yousef hammash, advocacy officer in gaza for the norwegian refugee council. he fled khan younis earlier this week, joining us now from rafah. he fled to the jabalia camp and then to khan younis and then to rough under the border crossing with egypt. coming up, democracy now! questions -- attempts to question the head of the uae state oil company who is presiding over the u.n. climate

summit. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in dubai here in the united arab emirates. the president of the climate summit, uae oil ceo sultan al jaber, is facing ongoing criticism for his recent comments claiming there is no science to back up calls to phase out fossil fuels in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels.

during a recent zoom call with former irish president mary robinson and others, sultan al-jaber said a full phase-out of fossil fuels would "take the world back into caves." >> there is no science out there or no scenario out there that says the phaseout of fossil fuel is what is going to achieve 1.5 -- 1.5 is my north star. please help me, show me the roadmap for a phaseout of fossil fuel to allow -- that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development. in this you want to take the world back into caves. -- unless you want to take the world back into caves. amy: those were the words of sultan al-jaber, the president of this year's climate summit and the ceo of the abu dhabi national oil company. his comments directly contradict those of u.n. secretary general antonio guterres who says a phase out of fossil fuel is a critical step.

>> this science is clear, one foot -- 1.5 degrees limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning fossil fuels. not reduce, phaseout with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5. amy: on tuesday, the u.n. climate summit president sultan al jaber held a town hall meeting inside the u.n. climate summit here in dubai. we attempted to get in right after our show, but we were told the press wasn't allowed inside. i tried to ask him a question on the way in. we were then directed to an overflow room buildings away, but raced back to try to question sultan al jaber as he left the town hall meeting. do you believe in a fossil fuel phaseout? can you answer question from the press?

dr. al-jaber, can you tell us why they are 2500 fossil fuel lobbyists here? dr. al-jaber, can you tell us if there should be a fossil fuel phaseout? dr. al-jaber, one question -- he's not doing his job. i'm doing mine. what time? >> thank you so much. thank you. >> [indiscernible] amy: i'm going to try to get an answer here. i will come to the press conference. dr. al-jaber, can you answer one question from the press? dr. al-jaber, one question from the press. people want to know why there record number of fossil fuel lobbyists at this conference? >> thank you.

amy: excuse me. >> no press. >> no press. thank you. amy: ok. are you his security? >> [indiscernible] amy: what is your name? >> [indiscernible] >> democracynow! amy: which of public radio television show called democracy now! new york. what is your name? >> [indiscernible] amy: ok. well, i tried as the president of the cop who happens to be the head of the largest -- one of the largest oil companies in the world adnoc, i would be national oil company, remarkable that the head of the oil company is the head of the u.n. climate summit.

if he is for fossil fuel phaseout. in the past you said no. and also why there is a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists here. i tried. anyway, they say there will be a news conference tomorrow so we will try again then. amy: well, in fact, there was no news conference called today by sultan al jaber. with the aid said was not true. it is past 5:00 today, so i guess there are few more hours but to talk more about the u.n. climate summit, we're joined by harjeet singh, head of global political strategy with climate action network and with the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, a global initiative to phase out fossil fuels and support a just transition. he's based in new delhi, india, but joyce has hear from dubai. let's talk about the significance of what i was questioning dr. al-jaber about,

1 -- record number of lobbyists. i was speaking to a young activist who said there are far fewer proportionally climate activists here than at previous summits because so many of them were limited in getting credentials and yet it is the largest u.n. climate summit ever with the by far largest number of oil, fossil fuel lobbyists. how does that affect these talks and what needs to be done here? >> thank you very much for having me on your show. it is a pleasure. it is deeply, deeply problematic to see how fossil fuel lobbies are taking over these climate talks. that is the concern we were raising from day one that it was announced that the uae was going to be the host of climate talks and because oil executives leading the conversation here. this is our fear coming true. we can't just allow fossil fuel industry to define what needs to

happen here. we would governments to regulate what has caused a problem in the first place. we're here to demand we need fossil fuel phaseout in a just and double manner. that language is what we are expecting to appear in the next few days because that is the message we have to present to the world which is already facing climate crisis. we cannot afford any other language which creates any confusion or leaves any kind of the polls that fossil fuels can still continue. -- loopholes that fossil fuels can still continue. amy: he set a fossil fuel phaseout, the other question i was asking him, would mean, well , taking the world back into caves. what is the sustainable answer? >> we already have renewable energy. really taking it to a level

where it is comparable to fossil fuel investments. the point here is how we can use those solutions -- reason fossil fuel industry -- i must remind everybody that as for the report of imf, the familiar dollars per minute. $11 million per minute. if you at all the externalities, cannot survive. on the other hand, see investments not going sufficiently to renewable energy industry. that is what is needed so we have solutions but we are not investing enough in the solution said that is why the fossil fuel industry is surviving. science is clear that we need to phase out fossil fuels. we need to do that in a just and equitable manner. amy: you are wearing blue today. if you can explain why you are doing that. and also you just came from a loss and damage protest. we started talking about loss and damage again this week at the u.n. climate summit, but

talk about why that was the focus of your protest outside. >> as activists, we are wearing blue, color we associate with loss and damage. we did that last year in our protest. two hours ago, we protested saying how we have got to fund -- historic it again on the first day of cop, unprecedented, but it is not enough. the reality is, we only got a couple hundred million dollars as pledges when the need is hundreds of billions of dollars. people are suffering right now. we're not getting sufficient money. amy: say what it means, what it would be used for, who would pay into it, and who would get that support. >> let's understand we got convention on climate 30 years ago. we were expecting the emission reductions tap into a level we will lot be seeing this crisis but we did not see any reduction in the emissions.

we did not provide support to community's and countries to adapt, to be more prepared for human disaster and here we are seeing climate emergency all around us in the form of increasing floods and raging wildfires and sea levels rising. people are losing their homes, farms, income. they are being displaced. there's no support available. after fighting for 30 years, we eventually got this -- lester in sharm el-sheikh and on the -- we will be able to support people who are losing her homes so they can rebuild their lives and livelihoods. money is not enough. it is historically have been able to establish the climate justice movement that put so much pressure on the leaders so we get this fund, but we don't want to create another fund which is not enough or is an empty shell. we need to be funding for the

class of people who are facing this crisis right now, how they can restart their lives and rebuild their homes. amy: what does global stop trade mean? >> it is a process agreed in 2015, global stop take. the pledges were put together, it was clear there are looking at a three degree of warming, which is going to be catastrophic, by the end of the century. we required a process that we can continuously ramp up and ratchet up our ambition. so this is a unique process. if you look at it, many national grimace don't have it. 2023 is the first year when the global stock-take, looking at where we are, and also going to determine how we need to increase our ambition the next few years so we can stay below the target of 1.5 degrees temperature rise celsius, so we don't cross that threshold. it is important process. as we speak, discussions are

happening on this which includes all the elements -- mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, finance and technology. amy: how does climate change affect india? how does climate change play out every day? >> and you is a large country -- and yet a large country -- india is a large country. it is extremely vulnerable. top five, top 10 countries in terms of vulnerability. we have seen heat waves that are unprecedented, floods becoming more intense, devastating storms and people getting displaced. there are studies which say india is going to lose its gdp by 3% over the next few years and how it is going to lose billions of dollars over the next for years and those impacts

are already happening. countries are vulnerable. they are suffering without any recent because they are not the ones who caused the problems in the first place. there many developing countries that are in more situations that india. amy: what's yours? >> have to make sure we get a fossil fuel phaseout. even when we talk about loss and damage, we know fairly more fossil fuels equals more loss and damage. unless we address the cost of the climate crisis, which is fossil fuel, we will not be able to deal with the climate emergency and we have to ramp up adaptation, finance because people need to be prepared to deal with losses, and also need to get support when their suffering. we need to work across the board on these pillars of climate action. amy: harjeet singh, head of global political strategy with climate action network and with the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, a global initiative to phase out fossil fuels and support a just

transition. usually based in new delhi, india. coming up, we look at how the uae is buying up land across africa as part of initiative called blue carbon. back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to look at what's being called the new scramble for africa.

the united arab emirates is using its vast oil money to buy up the rights to land in many 's african countries in order to sell carbon credits to major polluters. just over a year ago in 2022, a member of the uae royal family set up a private investment company called blue carbon to facilitate the deals. the company is negotiating to purchase the rights to about a tenth of liberia's land mass, a fifth of zimbabwe's, and swaths of kenya, zambia, and tanzania. the guardian newspaper reports the deal involves land about the size of the united kingdom. blue carbon would then sell carbon credits linked to forests preserved on this land. many critics have likened the uae's plan to a new form of colonialism. we are joined now by mohamed adow, the director of the climate and energy think tank power shift africa.

in september, his group published a report titled "the africa carbon markets initiative: a wolf in sheep's clothing." welcome to democracy now! can you explain what this blue carbon initiative is, by not attend, a fit of the land of these countries? >> what they're doing is after failing to mitigate the source is buy what they call carbon credits but in fact -- rather than actually cutting emissions so we can decarbonize and be able to help the world hold climate change to 1.5 degrees, what they're doing as part -- five large swaths of africa so they can have a pipeline of -- it gives them the right to continue. the continent of africa with 17% of the global relation,

[indiscernible] promised africa and other countries to help grow and a comfortable way. they failed to deliver the finance. now they want to basically buy on the cheap african land so that a pipe enough carbon credits. amy: what happens to the people who live on those lines? let's look at liberia. they via a tenth of the land, this private company. >> what they're doing is displacing africans off their lands so they can be able to obtain the right to pollute. amy: here or wherever the company -- >> all of these fossil fuel companies have promised the world they will help prevent -- he requires them to cut emissions. massive cuts in emissions so we can be able to contain the

rights of emissions. they failed to do that and provide the climate finance that the developing world requires. to add insult to injury, they want to forcefully displace our people off their land so they can be able to have a secure pipeline permits to continue to pollute. amy: permits to pollute. >> that is what they are. don't buy the idea there carbon credit. they are actually commodified nature. in the process, continue to pollute. developing countries -- they were promised that were not delivered. contribute to a false and dangerous -- amy: mohamed adow, presumably, the country has to agree to this. what does liberian government

gain from this? >> this is a condition between our political elite and the historic polluters. they give crumbs to these country so they can actually attain the right of the land in the name of carbon credit. basically, it is an imaginary commodity. it is cut your project in africa so the companies in the ritual will continue to pollute and then offset their emissions by buying those permits. it is a dangerous distraction. what we need today in the world is to decarbonize. massive decarbonization. rather than massive -- amy: how do you decarbonize? >> you need to phase out fossil fuels. the reason -- the reason the uae is buying this land so they can

offset their emissions and continue to sustain these false notions that we can continue to increase our emissions but buy on the cheap african land so we can continue to sustain these false -- amy: your group is called power shift africa. how do you ship the power? are you alleging with these different countries -- it is not just liberia committed tanzania, kenya, zimbabwe -- that government officials are on the take? >> 60 years ago, african countries attained their independence. we were able to take colonizers out of our land. they have been introducing a new form of colonialism where they basically grabbed our land but without permission so they can continue to emit. africa is on the front line, suffering first and worst the effects of climate change. what the africa people require

is for us to decarbonize the global economy. [indiscernible] africa someplace where they will source chips to continue to pollute. amy: we will continue this discussion tomorrow with nnimmo bassey, another african leader in the fight to preserve the environment. he is from nigeria. mohamed adow, thank you for being with us, director of the climate and energy think tank power shift africa. we will link to the report "the africa carbon markets initiative: a wolf in sheep's clothing." we are broadcasting from cop28 in dubai. as russian president vladimir putin has also arrived in the country today but will not attend putin the summit. this is putin's first trip to the region since russia attacked

ukraine. you will also travel to saudi arabia to meet with the crown prince. putin faces an arrest warrant from the international criminal work over war crimes in ukraine but neither saudi arabia nor the uae have signed the international criminal or, the icc treaty, so they are not obligated to detain him. today activists here at cop28 protested putin's visit that said "fossil fuel dictators out." ukrainians accused him of committing environment of crimes and their country as russia welcomed a u.s.-let initiative to triple global capacity and a rare agreement as 21 nations proposed ways to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including france, you can come and ukraine in addition to the u.s. at cop28 tuesday, that is today,

yesterday, a special climate envoy john kerry launched an international engagement plan to boost nuclear fusion that involves 35 nations. >> i believe based on friends i have, people i respect, evidence i have read, that there is potential infusion to revolutionize our world, to change all of the options in front of us. and provide the world with abundant and clean energy. amy: for more, we're joined here at cop28 by vladimir slivyak, co-chair for the leading russian environmental organization ecodefense. he won the 2021 right livelihood award, the alternative nobel peace prize, for defending the environment and mobilizing grassroots opposition to the coal and nuclear industries in russia. he has left russia now. where you live right now? >> germany. amy: i want to ask about this

initiative that is really being pushed by the united states. so methane, fossil fuel emissions -- they are really being -- the push is to cut them down and people like john kerry, the climate envoy from the united states, are saying nuclear is the answer. >> i think he is wrong. i think it is a big mistake by the biden administration to push for it. there are three reasons for this. first of all, we need action on climate now but nuclear power, we have to wait for quite a long time, like 20 or 30 years, until there will be some effect. the second thing is it is risky technology. it produces nuclear waste that will be dangerous for thousands of years. our next generations will have to pay for this. amy: how -- >> third thing, nuclear powers

the most expensive among all sources of energy. when you promote nuclear power, you have to understand it is diverting resources from renewable energy and renewable energy is the most efficient answer to climate change. amy: it is interesting. to say the least, you have the u.s. and russia, loggerheads over the russian invasion of ukraine, but here they don't disagree. >> well, this is like a disturbing and disappointing thing because we have not seen the u.s. doing promotion of nuclear at previous cops. unfortunately, they started to do what russia has been doing for quite a long time, promoting nuclear -- which is clearly a failed solution to climate change. amy: biden did not come to the u.n. climate summit and putin is not either but he did come to the uae. he was in abu dhabi this morning. he is going to saudi arabia. are you surprised by this?

what do you think he is here for? >> i was very surprised because vladimir putin would not be going international for quite a long time. i think there are two important things for putin here. one is oil. talking about oil prices and how they regulate and the sale of oil around the world to keep prices up. the second thing, i think it is weapons. russia needs more weapons. it is not producing enough weapons for the war in ukraine. well, not as much as it is using in ukraine. i think putin will be looking for some new supplies from arab countries. amy: why do you think the u.s. is promoting nuclear power right now? >> it is the money for nuclear industry. it was a long time ago when investors stop to invest into

nuclear because it is risky, always overbudget, taking a long time to build them. it was pretty much an economic disaster in the past. so investors don't want to put money into it anymore. governments, obviously came up with, to push for a do clear power here at the climate negotiations for one simple reason, to be able to take money from the climate fund and use it for construction of new nuclear climate plants. it is about saving mostly western industry. amy: when i was in ukraine a few years ago after the u.n. climate summit, there were monuments to the people of chernobyl. they are all over ukraine and russia. if you can talk about the significance of chernobyl shaping your opposition to nuclear power?

and then how you see renewable energy being the answer, even in the short term? >> when we speak about climate change and what we're going to do about it, renewable energy is the first choice for a reason that it is cheaper than nuclear. it is much faster to be installed which means gives you much faster results or effect in emission reduction. this is what we are looking for today. nuclear is a risky technology. we had fukushima, chernobyl before that. chernobyl, basically, led to our collapse of the soviet union. chernobyl provoked the new civil society movements and the nuclear movements in the soviet union that became active in the end 80's to stop the developing of nuclear power in the soviet union. it later restarted when mostly

putin and in. amy: can you talk about what is happening at these climate talks? if you hold out hope? and a new report that just was released on the environmental effects of russia's invasion and war on ukraine? >> first of all about the climate talks, it is a scan by design. because the president of this cop is actually the head of a big oil company, one of the leading ones in the world. so the guy who was supposed to push other countries to reach an agreement on ending fossil fuel is actually interested in promotion of oil contracts for his company. so i don't know how -- what kind of result we can expect from this cop. it is true a couple of days ago ukraine presented an assessment of environment of damage from the war, russian war in ukraine.

the representatives of ukrainian states said there was nearly 3000 environment of crimes conducted by russian army or so over $60 billion american. it is only environmental cost of the war. this included there are about 150 million pounds of co2 that was additionally needed because of this war that would not have happened without the war. ukrainian state says this greenhouse gas emission worse about $12 billion. this is what they want now, they want international community to ask russia or to push russia for reparations, including this 12 lien dollars for additional co2

emissions and over $60 billion for environment of damage that was caused by the war. right now you do ukrainian state wants to push united nations to create the structure that will come up with some kind of a scheme how these reparations from russia could be taken. amy: finally, would you be able to say these things in russia? when did you leave? >> absolutely not. russia, in my opinion, is a fascist state that you can easily compare to nazi germany from the 20th century, from the second world war. all kinds of activists are under repression. it is every day we're getting news that somebody else got to jail or new criminal case. everybody is under pressure from the state. feminist, activists, lgbt, human rights activists. putin regime is just mad about civil society. if he decide -- if you decide

to criticize putin, who medially go to jail. amy: vladimir slivyak, co-chair for the leading russian environmental organization ecodefense. he won the 2021 right livelihood award. we will link to your reports at democracynow.org.