Newly appointed chair of the Isle of Man Climate Change Transformation Board Daphne Caine MHK was delegated to attend the global climate conference in Glasgow by Chief Minister Alf Cannan MHK. Here she reports on the experience:

Thursday, November 4: The Paris Agreement is to be extended to the Isle of Man!

Having lobbied and questioned on this subject during the previous administration, I was thrilled to be present as the UK confirmed that they intend to extend their ratification of the Paris Agreement to the Crown Dependencies (CDs).

This is possible because they are confident we are serious about achieving reduction in carbon emissions with a variety of initiatives.

We will be required to contribute to the UK target of 68% reduction by 2030 but we will set our own ambitious interim target - this will require us to consult the public (sorry for those weary of consultations but it is a legal requirement and deciding on our climate ambition is an important decision for us all).

Friday, November 5: Youth and public empowerment day.

COP26 gives me a sense of how global it is, this need to take action, and how climate change impacts indigenous communities all over the world.

As an island we have experienced changing weather patterns not least with recent floods in Laxey, and it was deeply moving to hear firsthand the devastating impact of climate change on other island nations. The weather events, hurricanes, cyclones etc may be more extreme but the personal experiences resonate.

There can be no room for doubt about the impact of climate change on indigenous nations, the only question is how soon can we go further, faster together.

Bear Grylls was keynote speaker in the UK presidency pavilion, with the crowd out of the doors (100% mask wearing compliance).

He urged that pace of climate action needs to accelerate but finished with a message of hope: ’Life is about continually adapting and continually listening.

’You are change makers- you guys have the powerâ?¦. Do the right thing.

’No more blah blah blah is important. And optimism is key.’

Saturday, November 6: Nature day.

[The] take home message from Minister Joubert: ’We have a climate community, a nature community. It’s the same with finance. We have been working in silos. We need to bring it all together.’

And that’s something I will try to address on the island, first stop reviewing the structure of the board, to make it more effective in order to deliver the rolling 5-year action plan required under our Climate Change legislation by March, plus the roadmap to net zero in 2050, which the Chief Minister has tasked me with delivering by next summer.

l Mrs Caine’s diary entries have been condensed for publication in this week’s Examiner. We also spoke to environment campaigner and NGO worker, Sarah Mercer. Their comments will be published in full on our website, alongside more photographs at iomtoday.co.im