2 Laurentian University students present at the COP28 conference on climate change

Two Laurentian University students presented virtually at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates Friday morning.

Anastacia Chartrand and Avery Morin, both co-chairs of Laurentian's Environmental Sustainability Committee, shared steps the university has taken to assess biodiversity on campus to create a baseline that can be maintained.

"When we hosted our bio blitz we were able to observe over 340 different species in just under an hour," said Morin.

In April Laurentian joined the Nature Positive University Alliance, which supports restoring nature on university campuses around the world.

It was the alliance that invited Chartrand and Morin to give their presentation, along with students from Oxford University, the University of Helsinki and the Indian Institute of Technology.

"Since the spring we've been pretty busy with a lot of different projects and we think that got the attention of the alliance,"" Chartrand said.

In addition to their biodiversity assessment on campus, the Environmental Sustainability Committee at Laurentian has also created new signage in four languages, including Anishinaabemowin, that identifies plants that grow near the university. 

More than 70,000 delegates are expected to attend COP28, which takes place in Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

The annual conferences are where world leaders gather to propose solutions and ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

"From my perspective, the more people talking about climate change engaging in climate change, the more likely the world will succeed," Morin said.