To COP(26) or not to COP? That is the increasingly urgent question for many delegates based in the Global South - especially those from civil society groups - who had planned to attend November's crunch U.N. climate talks in Glasgow.

With less than two months to go, Climate Action Network (CAN) International - which brings together more than 1,500 groups, based in some 130 countries - has called for another postponement of the negotiations, arguing not enough effort has been made by the British government to ensure an inclusive, safe conference amid the pandemic.

"Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and those countries suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out of the talks," said CAN's executive director Tasneem Essop.

In response to rising concerns, the UK last week said it would deliver COVID-19 vaccines to those in developing countries who had requested them, in time for them to travel to Scotland.

Today it tried to assuage another worry, saying it will also cover hefty hotel quarantine costs for delegates coming from "red-list" countries with high COVID-19 cases.

But there's still a widespread feeling the hosts are cutting it fine, and some on the frontlines of climate change impacts will not make it to COP26 as a result.

In France, another big conference is taking place largely in person this week - the global congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Marseille, focused on boosting nature protection and why that matters for the climate.

The Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, an IUCN member, wants the forum to vote in favour of protecting 80% of the Amazon by 2025, to stem rising deforestation and help keep tribal lands and communities safe.

But if the vote passes, those charged with the mission will have their work cut out.

Since seven heads of state from Amazon countries inked the Leticia Pact two years ago to better protect the vulnerable rainforest, its pledges have remained largely unfulfilled, with scant evidence of up-and-running forest protection and restoration efforts directly resulting from the deal, our correspondents report.

Yet we need fast-vanishing nature more than ever in our urbanised, stress-filled and disease-threatened lives, doctors say.

With the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the health benefits of spending more time outdoors, a growing faction of the U.S. medical community is prescribing time outside in the same way they would traditional medication.

But what kind of nature will people find when they seek its benefits in the future? Already the effects of climate change are being seen across many of the 423 areas under the U.S. National Park Service's management - whether in the form of sea level rise, thawing permafrost or wildfires.

That is forcing conservationists to adopt a new "climate-smart" approach, recognising it may not be possible to protect some landscapes fully anymore.

How far that is the case is likely to be determined to a significant extent by what happens at COP26.

Stay tuned!

Megan

Climate groups call for COP26 summit delay over vaccines, costs
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