• Lack of drinking water, overpriced food, accessibility problems… Difficulties are piling up at the COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheik in Egypt.

  • "It's the most confusing COP ever," said Bianca, who has attended the annual UN summit three times.

Struggles for wheelchairs, lack of drinking water, hotel rooms at exorbitant prices have angered COP27 participants in Egypt, forcing the host country to take measures to limit the damage, according to observers.

The organization of the United Nations climate conference, which brings together up to 35,000 people from 195 countries each year, is a huge logistical challenge.

But this year, the problems encountered at this event held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh were such that they were impossible to ignore, perhaps the most fundamental being the accessibility.

Pratima Gurung, who works for a disability NGO, said she and Krishna Gahatraj, of the Disability Rights Fund, who uses a wheelchair, had been left by the side of the road "repeatedly" as they they were waiting for shuttles.

Organizers "did not give clear instructions to drivers" on how to accommodate people with disabilities, said Gurung, who heads the National Association of Disabled Indigenous Women of Nepal.

People with physical disabilities say that attending the summit was particularly difficult for them.

"As a person with a disability, the COP is fundamentally inaccessible to me," complained Jason Boberg of SustainedAbility, who has attended the last five COP meetings.

Insufficient and rare signage

At COP26 last year in Glasgow, Scotland, accessibility issues were also reported.

The Israeli Minister of Energy was unable to enter the building in a wheelchair at first.

Another recurring complaint in Sharm el-Sheikh is insufficient and rare signage.

"It's the most confusing COP ever," said Bianca, who has attended the annual UN summit three times and declined to name her.



The size of a small town, the COP27 site is a sprawling archipelago of highly air-conditioned pavilions, meeting rooms and halls, connected by paved roads that absorb heat under cloudless skies and an outside temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius.

Inside, in a press center that resembles a shed, journalists were wrapped in jackets and shawls to protect themselves from the cold of excessive air conditioning.

Another major problem is the lack of water.

During the first week of COP27 which runs from November 6-18, water dispensers were scarce and sat empty for hours.

Thus, delegates began to bring their own supplies of water, some going so far as to ignore the warnings recommending not to drink the desalinated water flowing from the sink taps in the toilets.

“I have never seen such prizes at a COP”

"People who are already stressed shouldn't have to search for water all the time," said a COP veteran and NGO member.

Another sore point was the extortionate prices for food and the half-hour queues to get it.

This was particularly problematic for participants from developing countries or activists with limited budgets.

"I have never seen such awards at a COP," said an NGO representative who did not wish to be identified.

In response to these complaints, conference organizers made food stall drinks free and reduced food prices by 50% until the end of the summit.

Alarm bells had been sounded long before the start of COP27 when hotels in the tourist town hosting the event suddenly tripled or quadrupled room prices, even for those whose reservations were confirmed.

Some delegates even discovered upon arrival that their reservations had simply been cancelled.

“People are now stuck sleeping on the road, in bus stations,” Olumide Idowu, a young activist from Nigeria, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

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