Siddiqi Fellows

The Siddiqi Fellows are supported by GEE-21 to attend, participate in, and bring messages back from the COPs. Students report back to the community by participating in the Toufiq Siddiqi Climate Change Memorial Lecture each year. By supporting Conference of the Parties (COP) attendance, GEE-21 empowers students to engage in climate advocacy by equipping them with the skills to influence their governments, driving progress in addressing the climate crisis. The organization has supported students from the Environmental Law Program (ELP) at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and plans to expand funding to include Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students in the future.

Student COP Attendance

GEE-21 and its Board members have collectively and individually supported student involvement at COPs for the past 10 years–starting with COP20 in Lima in 2014. For the past three years, GEE-21 has partnered with the UH Richardson School of Law to fund students to attend the COP negotiations and engage in climate policy discussions through training, education, and financial means. Board members and former UN Liaison Lirio Hittle have a long history of supporting students, through designing and teaching courses in global climate change policy to students at Washington University in St. Louis, and leading observer delegations to COPs 20, 21, and 22.

This year, five delegates from the Hawaiʻi community are attending COP30 in Belem, Brazil. They are representing a strong commitment to climate justice and international collaboration: four are students from the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law, and the University of Hawai‘i Department of Geography and Environment. We also have representation from Care About Climate, a global youth-led nonprofit dedicated to empowering young people in climate advocacy. Together, these delegates bring diverse perspectives rooted in law, policy, and community-based climate action.

The delegation is grateful to its partners who helped prepare and support its participation in the COP30, including Tufts University’s Climate Policy Lab and UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series.