Thread by @FinancialTimes

As #COP26 continues, @ftmag meets those working on the ground where climate change has reached an emergency point.

@simonmundy recalls the stories he learnt on his two-year, 26-country journey across the frontlines of the climate crisis ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

During Copenhagen’s COP15 in 2009, the Maldives' then-president Mohamed Nasheed chaired an underwater cabinet meeting. He wanted to show the world the effects rising sea levels would have on his 1,000-plus island country if we fail to cut carbon emissions ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

When Mundy met Nasheed in 2019, the president was pessimistic. After COP15 talks collapsed, he started doubting the impact of the UN’s climate summit. The COP approach of nearly 200 countries reaching unanimous consensus is a recipe for failure, he said ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

In the fishing village of Ilulissat Mundy met Konrad ‘Koni’ Steffen, who spent 30 years monitoring Greenland’s shifting ice sheet. He told him about how Swiss Camp, his outpost on ice which attracted visits from world leaders collapsed as temperatures rose ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

Around the Solomon Islands waters are rising by nearly 1cm per year. In the island of Taro communities have begun to relocate. Mundy spoke to some residents, and they told him they no longer felt safe but the cost of rebuilding was far above their budget ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

In Dhaka, saltwater intrusion is shattering rice farming communities. Increased flooding and cyclones has turned the soil salty; the crop is suffering. Farmers from the villages are pouring into the overcrowded slums of Bangladesh’s capital ft.com/content/e3bfb9…

These are just a few of the human stories behind the ‘greatest challenge of our history’. @simonmundy's 2-year journey – charted in his new book ‘Race for Tomorrow’ – has uncovered many more. Read on here 👉 ft.com/content/e3bfb9…