ROD ORAM In Memoriam. A Photo Thread. As some followers in NZ may be aware I am currently at #COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan. My fourth COP. And this is a relatively difficult one. Rod Oram died tragically in a cycling accident in March 2024 when I was back in NZ for my first visit since leaving NZ to spread my wings in 2015. I caught up with him in Glasgow back in 2021 in the time of Covid. But I have known him for a lot longer as you will see in the photos in this thread. The oldest pictures I have are from him at the Egypt hosted COP in 2022. My second COP.
His successor in climate coverage @NewsroomNZ's @marcdaalder is attending his first COP this year which got me thinking about NZ's COP UNCCC coverage trailblazer for in person COP coverage.
@NewsroomNZ @marcdaalder There is a great spirit of camaraderie among the large COP media pool. In Glasgow he helped me orient myself, which is not an effortless process as the COP process is so big and varied and seemingly endless. But the attendees and guardians from the UNFCCC are all great people
@NewsroomNZ @marcdaalder In addition to being a fellow climate change journalist (I am a relative latecomer compared to Rod) Rod was also a trail blazer I have had a fair few contacts over the years as Rod has always been an advocate for collaborative efforts to find funding solutions for journalism -
@NewsroomNZ @marcdaalder RIP Rod Oram, We are thinking of you here at #COP29Azerbaijan /ends @threadreaderapp unroll