Ahead of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the TIME Magazine has released its latest cover featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with a slew of other world leaders.
Other prominent figures on the cover image include United States President Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth and Climate Activist Greta Thunberg, but the picture also shows a lot of unoccupied chairs — all placed amid a raging storm.
The issue is called ‘Last Call’ and TIME’s decription of the cover image on Instagram reads:
“Last call for climate—the world’s leaders need to stop talking and start acting. For two weeks in early November, negotiators from nearly 200 countries will gather in Glasgow for COP26, shorthand for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The overarching goal is to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—or at least do enough at this meeting for such a goal to stay within reach.”
The illustration is by Tim O’Brien, who in an Instagram post wrote:
“The pitch (for the cover image) was an amorphous one; some world leaders, maybe the Queen, but a lot of no shows. Folding chairs and name tags of the missing. I worried at first, there was not a thing or main idea to look at other than the chairs and faces. Then it occurred to me that the uninvited guest was climate change . In this illustration, extreme weather takes the lead. We need to take the lead.”
Approximately 25,000 people are expected to travel to Glasgow this autumn for the annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be hosted by the United Kingdom.
This will be the 26th Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26.
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