My work was mostly limited to communities and climate change and after spending three days there I came out with the feeling that the focus was still very much on the science and animals and less on the human beings. On Thursday as I was entering the forum there was a flurry of cameras outside the venue filming women dressed in penguin outfits carrying placards protesting the threat to penguins of global warming. A few hours later indigenous leaders from every continent sat in a near empty press room to announce a global summit, to be held next year in Alaska, on the impact of climate change on their communities.

Nothing, however, deterred indigenous representatives who were strong, forceful and focused. There were two messages that came out. Firstly, as the show of hands campaign I work on calls for, to be able to input into international level climate change negotiations. Secondly, recognition of the immense contribution century old indigenous traditional knowledge, used within the communities to predict weather patterns and conserve species, can make to the modern science of climate change. Community leaders gave varying examples of how their elders have been noticing and predicting signs and trends of climate change much before scientists came out with their findings.

Kimo, a young activist from Hawaii told me how unfair it is that Pacific Islanders who have contributed the least to climate change will pay the biggest price as some islands are under threat of sinking. As a youth he wants a future in his homeland, he said. Indigenous leaders from the Amazon presented maps across South American countries to show that areas where forests had been conserved were those inhabited by them. It is no coincidence, they said.

These will be some of the arguments indigenous leaders will present as they lobby governments in Poznan, Poland, in December at the penultimate round of negotiations before a climate change deal is agreed on.

As I left Barcelona I realized there were other things I was wrong about. There was no sun in Barcelona - just a horrible drizzle. I did manage to enjoy my tapas but it was not the tastiest food I had there. That award goes to a sweet potato fudge generously served to me by a nice young lady from my home country Sri Lanka. She received an award for pioneering a project amongst village farmers to rediscover native potato species (we apparently have dozens of them).

Sri Lankan sweet potato fudge in Barcelona: as odd as a human rights activist in an conservation forum, but just as good to have around.

Farah Mihlar is MRG’s campaigns and media officer and is working on the Show of Hands campaign