Yale, the G77 + China and Penny Wong

Friday 11 December 2009

After a crazy day yesterday, I woke up this morning still feeling exhausted but aiming to get to the daily YOUNGO Spokescouncil meeting. However, I was too slow off the mark and our ANU meeting was late so I didn't get out of the hotel until around 9am. Steph and I headed over to the Bella Centre only for Steph to find that she had left her pass behind!

I went in (it was a crazy push through security and then in the cloak room line – there really is merit in getting there early!) and tried to find the YOUNGO policy meeting. I couldn't. I later found out that it wasn't on. I got a daily program and went to the computers to check some emails, etc.

I found out via email that there was a Youth Forest Working Group action on REDD at 11am outside the SBSTA drafting negotiations. I bumped into Phoebe who was also going and we headed over. About 5 other young people were dressed up as elves and we formed part of the choir which sang "14 Days of UN Negotiations" to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. I'm beginning to notice the same faces from the "grown up" NGOs who show up to all the REDD negotiations to lobby the actual delegates!

A security guard came up and said we had to leave because we were making too much noise. I thought Gemma might suggest we sing even louder just to be hostile but in fact, she just told us to be perfectly silent and be there.


Christmas is all around us - even at COP15!

We left after the door closed and went down towards the computer sections to have a bit of a debrief. Phoebe, Fern and I had to run off to the Yale/ANU lunch.

We met some cool people from Yale who are doing amazing things. They were explaining to us that their class broke into 6 "pods" focussing on different aspects of the COP – Ecuador (because the head of the negotiating team was an alumna of Yale and had emailed Yale to ask for help with media, logistics, etc.); tracking the Chinese negotiations (they have a blog called www.greenleapforward.org); REDD. I spoke to George who is part of the China team who was talking about how they had been prepping on China for the past semester and now have been following the Tuvalu/China schism, meeting the China delegation (and the Chinese youth); sneaking into the Media section (apparently if you sign in as Yale its fine).


Tom, Luke, Marcus, Bella and our Yale friends listen as we discuss our different projects. It was sometimes hard to find a spance to have a meeting so you would frequently see delegations or groups meeting in open spaces like this one!

Janette, Shaun and I had a conversation about the negotiations and climate justice. We were asking Janette about what she thinks of the international negotiators and she was talking about how she has been offered jobs with the DCC but philosophically can't accept the offers. She said she knows people who drop out from the DCC because they don't want to tow the government line. We were talking about how incredible it is that some countries feel "entitled" to exceptions (US, Canada, Australia, etc.) and how it might be the solution to completely swipe out KP and start again with 350 ppm as the final outcome (and working around solutions which achieve this). Apparently Norway, Germany, some of the other Scandanvian countries are quite open to the idea of them taking up the responsibility of developed nations (similar to how Scandavia, Germany went into Southern Africa to help with their agricultural developments).

Shaun and I went to do some digital diary work (I did some YOUNGO research online) and I bumped into David Noble, the founder of Mass Dialogues, who then bumped into the biggest guy in China of solar energy. David was talking about the evolution of youth since Montreal and how there were about 150 youth at Nairobi, 200 at Bali, 500 at Poznan (which was already too big!) and now 2000 at COP15. (Later in the day, I was talking to Beth who is with THMUN and said her experience earlier this year was so much better because she felt like a part of something in new york? At the sustainability convention because there were only about 60/70 youth there and the delegates were more willing to talk to them). He said the 2000 young people was both a good and bad thing.

I bumped into Beth at the EU Pavillion who said that Penny Wong was meeting with the Australian youth at 5pm. I got a text message from the youth network about a G77 + China briefing at 4pm and after just missing the youth freeze action, Siri and I went to the briefing. The Sudanese delegate was the official spokesperson for the G77. He was calm, measured and received a standing ovation. I was enthralled by his speech and took extensive notes!


Siri, holding up her sign calling for stronger cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the temperature does not rise about 1.5 degrees, in the G77+China briefing. I'm so glad I met her at the Conference of the Youth!

The Penny Wong briefing was revealing. She was such a politician in how she answered some of her questions. For example, Braidon, one of the the two Indigenous Australians who were part of the AYCC delegation, spoke about how important it was to the Indigenous Caucus that the UN Declaration of the Indigenous Person was included in the final REDD text. Wong responded by asking Braidon exactly what words he wanted in the text. From my perspective, it appeared he did not have a response to that but he handled the question well and told her he would find out and get back to her.

Wong generously started out by stating that "some of our discussions in schools are better than our discussions in Parliament" and spoke of how young people hold politicians to account and remind them of why they do it. She watched the Tony Abbott advertisement the AYCC had made with a bemused look. She was also very frank, describing the COP15 process by proclaiming "This is not a shopping list. This is a negotiation." She was realistic, stating "Britain can spend money on flood mitigation. Bangladesh cannot." Finally, she made it clear that meaningful environmental outcomes cannot be achieved by the Kyoto Protocol. She ended her briefing by saying "We need actions by non Kyoto Protocol countries."


Meeting in the Australian Delegation Office (where we went for the Australian briefing earlier in the week) with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and Penny Wong.

I was surprised the youth weren't more radical/demanding but I think it was part of their strategy to softly tread.


Group photo with Penny Wong, Australia's Minister for Climate Change. If you look long and hard, you may indeed see me on the far left.

Phoebe and I (its nice that I now have someone to hang out with!) went to the Youth Forest Meeting where we spoke about our action planned for 8am tomorrow morning (!) (must go to bed asap its now 12.20am!) and an update on the REDD negotiations which were supposed to be going through the night tonight because it might be that REDD is what the heads of state hold up to be the outcome of the conference.

After the meeting, we watched out of the corner of our eyes as Gemma "bumped into" the DRC negotiator on REDD to try to convince her to agree that the Congo would not allow the conversion of forests to plantations to be funded by REDD. Brendan Mackey and one of the other women from the Wilderness Society also "bumped into" her!

We went out to dinner in the city and got horribly lost trying to find a restaurant from the Lonely Planet Guide! It was so crowded although the waitress was really nice and tried to fit us in. We'll go back. Instead we had Mexican. Mexican in Denmark. Yum.

 

Young and Future Generations Day (aka YuFuGe)

It's Youth and Future Generations Day today!

Thursday 10 December 2009

Today was a turning point for me in a number of ways. Firstly, I have changed the focus of my topic yet again (although I am quite certain I will now stick with what I have chosen). Secondly, I have been inspired completely and totally by the international youth climate change movement (I had been previously but today provided a structure in which I could appreciate it even more). Finally, I now know that my interest in climate change will continue after COP15. This is because today I sat through Youth and Future Generations Day Side Events from 9am-6pm straight. I heard from young people and the young at heart about youth projects and educational programs available for youth. The potential is endless.

Youth and Future Generations Day (YuFuGe) celebrates the role of youth in the UNFCCC process, particularly as this is the first time youth have an official constituency within the UNFCCC.


The panellists of the Role of Education Side Event.

The first event I attended was "The role of education in relation to the climate crisis" which was run by Service Civil International, Energy Crossroads, the Yale Student Environmental Coalition and Sebastien Duyck. Seb spoke on how YuFuGe Day is 14 hours of continuous youth activities. This is the first year the youth constituency have an official day at COP. He spoke of the journey over the past five years for constituency status, the capability young people have to join the negotiations and the empowerment of young people. We also heard from Laurence Pollier who is the UNFCCC Secretariat for Young People, Fathimath Ghina from UNESCO Paris, Stephanie Hodge who is an Education Specialist for UNICEF, Khadidiatou Diop, a climate ambassador for UNICEF from Senegal, Michael Plesner who is the President of Energy Crossroads and Firoent Boarkik who is the former President of Students for Sustainable Development which is a French Network. I have a lot of notes which I am sure I will use for my research report. One thing that really touched me was a Bolivian Girl Guide's question. She stood up and spoke about how she is listening to all the educational programs the UN is developing for young people but what should she do when she goes back to Bolivia and is faced with a lack of resources to education people on climate change? The panel responded there are many ways to share climate change knowledge including sharing personal experiences, using the local environment as a classroom and lobbying the local government. The question seemed more poignant than the answer.


Playing my little bit! I was the designated microphone runner for the first YuFuGe event.

The second event was "Youth, forest protection and survival: why forest protection and education is essential." This was run by SustainUS but had several panellists from the Youth Forest Working Group! Gemma Tillack spoke about forests and REDD. Juan Carlos spoke about Indigenous peoples' rights. Lavinia Warners spoke about the Yasuni Initiative in Ecuador. Rebecca David spoke about Youth Forestry Initiatives such as eco trails and skits, the Chipko Movement and the Kids for Tiger Projects. Once again, I felt so inferior when compared to the young people on the panel who knew so much about their area of interest and were also so engaged in ensuring an outcome they believed in. I am envious that they are so passionate about something and can combine their academic pursuits with activism. There is something about forests which really draws me in. It may be that from when I was little, forests have made me feel like part of something bigger than me. Being out in the forest reminds me that I am very insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Gemma answered a question about how much of an impact the youth have in international negotiations. She spoke about how we underestimate the ability we have to change the text on the negotiation floor and the youth are crucial in talking to delegates. For example, the youth can help resolve miscommunications between delegations which arise from the language barrier.

The third event was "Intergenerational Inquiry on Climate Solutions calls Yvo de Boer, youth and negotiators to testify." Mr. De Boer, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, spoke very frankly about his thoughts on the negotiations. He proclaimed youth add a "different flavour, at the very least, make it less boring." He reminded us to "keep it up and keep up the pressure." I was so surprised he spoke so openly. It was refreshing, particularly as I am becoming increasingly sceptical about the official delegations and negotiators.

Ruchie, from India, spoke about her story as a young person from India. She ended her speech by saying "Trust your youth, trust your governments" to which Mr. De Boer said "You worried me a little bit at the end. I think you are being a little careless with trust ... and still this process needs to earn my trust." Wow.

We also heard from the Director General of the Latin American Climate Coalition, Mr. Mohamed Asslam who is the Environment Minister of the Maldives and youth from Australia and South Africa. Emily Davies, an Australian youth and my friend from college presented the Youth Declaration of the youth constituency. Later I was speaking to her about it and she said many people in YOUNGO believe this sort of thing is a waste of time because it is words not actions. It would be hard to put so much work into something like that only for people to say you are wasting your time.

There was an interesting aside where it was noted there is a difference between being a meaningful contributor compared to being a parallel actor on their own. Something very pertinent for the youth constituency to consider.

The fourth event was "Intergenerational equity" which discussed the principle of intergenerational equity in the framework of climate change. Tracey Bach, an academic, spoke from a legal perspective; Margrete Auken, a member of the European Parliament, spoke about her life as a politician with the Greens. The president of AIESEC, an international students organisation spoke about youth organisations and Michaela and Don who are the official Dutch Youth Representatives to the UN spoke on their experiences and observations of youth delegates.


Tracey Brach speaks about intergenerational equity from a legal perspective.

This may have been my favourite event of the day which is a big call considering I learnt more in this one day than I did from all the other side events I attended combined. The reason I pick this as one of my favourite events is because of the legal perspective and also something Margrete said. She told us to "go into politics. If you don't, the other corrupt ones will."


UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer with some over zealous, star struck students. (Perhaps me) You know you are surrounded by young climate activists when they choose to mob someone like Mr. de Boer rather than say, a rock star.

After this exhausting and stimulating day, we headed into town for the YOUNGO celebration party.


Caroline Howe, one of the members of the YOUNGO bottomlining team, marks the first year of YOUNGO constituency status at the YOUNGO party.

We heard from different youth groups who performed, chatted amongst ourselves and heard from Mr. De Boer. I met a couple of people from the New Zealand Youth Delegation and hung out with Mina, Ella Bella and Phoebe.


Phoebe, Mina, Ella Bella, me and friends at the YOUNGO party.

Circus Time!

Circus Time!

Wednesday 9 December 2009

It isn't often you have class over breakfast!

We started the day out with an ANU breakfast briefing where Janette went through some housekeeping and COP15 procedures. We also got business cards and beanies! I was feeling a bit confused and overwhelmed so it was useful talking to Janette to clarify whether I could approach my topic in a multifaceted way. I'm interested in looking at NGO impacts on REDD negotiations and Janette said it was fine if I spoke to and connected with the NGOs and International Youth Forest Group. She said I could even get involved in the activism as long as I acknowledged that I was approaching the topic from a subjective rather than objective perspective. With that approach, I headed off the COP!

I would describe the inside of COP as the Royal Sydney Easter Show minus the animals, rides and showbags. There are similar booths to the Easter Show and side events which go on simultaneously. There is a buzz in the air and people always seem to be rushing from one thing to another. There are big spaces for eating and converging. Each country and constituency has its delegation office at the back of the conference area. There are numerous plenaries (like the one in the movie "The Interpreter") where you can listen to simultaneous translations. It is a very cool place.


This is one of the main thoroughfares where people meet and eat.

Australia negotiates. There are big televisions screens all over the Bella Centre and there are frequently groups of people huddled around watching the proceedings inside the plenaries.


It's not just men in suits who come to the COP!

The first thing I did was find a Daily Program so I could figure out what I wanted to do over the course of the day. The Daily Program is the holy text of COP which is printed every morning and contains the goings on of that day. Obviously, things still change so you have to keep an eye on the television screens around the conference and if you can, go online to check the latest updates.

I was still a bit confused so I made a list of all the elements of COP15 which could potentially be a part of my major report.

 

Thoughts:

YOUNGOs

Youth Forest Working Group

REDD/LULUCF

Side Events

Youth in the Text Working Group

Indonesia; Brazil; Congo

ECA; Rainforest Alliance

 

I checked out a REDD event at the Bellona Centre. It was really good because there was a panel of 5 experts from very different backgrounds.

Samuel Nnah from Cameroon who moderated the event

Kenn Mondiai from Papua New Guinea who spoke the experience of Papua New Guinea with REDD. He spoke about issues of poor governance and corruption, mentioning the nickname given to people in Papua New Guinea who have links with the government – carbon cowboys.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz from Phillipines who is the Director General of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous People who updated us on the SBSTA text. She ended her speech asking everyone to help ensure that the words of the Universal Declaration of the Indigenous Person are included in the final REDD text.

Roger Mulhuba from the Democratic Republic of Congo spoke about the experience of the DRC with two fast track REDD programs and the DRC's participation of the World Bank's Forest Pathway.

Bard Lahn from Norway who was really informative speaking on how safeguards in the text will not ensure effectiveness. Rather, we need to ensure there is implementation of the safeguards on the ground. He even had a slide show!

The Bellona Centre event's speakers.

 

After the REDD event, I headed back to the NGO side events to listen to "Lessons Learnt from the 350.org Campaign". It turns out there wasn't any formal group event but I spoke to Abe Woo from Malaysia who coordinated the South East Asian 350.org campaigns on 24 October.

Afterwards I went to the EU LULUCF event which was mind numbingly boring. I realised that I'm not interested in the scientific aspects of LULUCF. Thank goodness David Dumareck was there and asked if either Bella, Molly or me wanted to go to the Australian brief. I volunteered straight away and we found ourselves in a long, long line to get into the Australian Delegation office.

We got in finally – there were heaps of people there. We all introduced ourselves. There were lots of lawyers from the big law firms like Clayton Utz and Baker & McKenzie. ANU was also well represented. It was fascinating (or "gobsmacking" as David said!) to see how the questions were fielded. There were questions on MRV (measurements, reporting and verification); a question about whether the Universal Declaration of the Indigenous Person would be included in the final outcome. There was a vague reply that "we'll take that on board and see what we can do"; there was a question on whether what "sequestration" refers to - whether it refers to geological or biological sequestration which received a response "We've all got our own agenda's to push" which I guess is true.


A bird's eye map of the Hall where the Australian Delegation Office is located.

Inside the Australian Briefing.

Fern and I went to have lunch. The meals here are surprisingly cheap, good and 60% organic! We spoke about being law students and how great it would be to go into law in relation to climate change. Fern mentioned a Melbourne law firm which is "Lawyers for Forests" that she would be interested in working in when she finished next year. She was helpful in telling me which environmental law courses to do and which not to do!


On our way to the REDD negotiations, one of the head delegates of an African delegation stopped us and spoke about how she had been a youth activist in 1985 and now she was part of an official delegation. She said we should keep fighting and one day we will be the ones negotiating. It was one of the special moments of COP15.

After lunch I ducked to Hall C because I had received a text message about an hour before hand that everyone should meet outside Hall C at 2.45pm to prep. It turns out that the SBSTA negotiators were about to go into negotiate the methodology of REDD. We were doing a "REDD alert Whoop Whoop" campaign outside the room. I felt like I was back doing student elections and harassing the passers-by. I quickly found my groove and realised the delegations were more receptive to you when you said something about the youth voice wanting to be heard. There was a guy who was making a movie about the REDD process in negotiations and several people were taking photos.


The first Youth Forest protest of the conference. One of my friends from India, Swati, is being interviewed by the film crew about her opinion of REDD and the negotiations.

We were buzzing from the activity and made our way over to the Plenary where there were big protests with people shouting "Tuvalu, Tuvalu" regarding a motion Tuvalu had proposed to suspend the COP because they were unhappy with all the informal negotiations. I bumped into my Swedish friends from COY who had been meeting with the Algeria delegation and were planning a North/South action for Sunday which I'll hopefully join in on.


The big Tuvalu and other Small Island States protest outside the plenary. The protest was so loud you could hear it from the other end of the Bella Centre.

I wasn't able to get into the Plenary session because they weren't letting NGOs in (I think it was after the very loud and successful Tuvalu protests!) so I went to one of the numerous computer hubs to type up the list of side events I wanted to attend in case the secondary pass system is introduced. I bumped into George from Zimbabwe who was waiting before going to meet the official Zimbabwean delegation to lobby for them to support 350ppm (I later saw him and he said he hadn't even needed to lobby them – they readily agreed!)


George and me inside the Bella Centre.

At 5.45pm I went back to meet up with the Forest WG for us to lobby the delegates going into LCA for REDD discussions on the scope. We decided to take a different approach and sing, to change tact from this morning. It was a bit awkward at first but after a while, although some of us had only just met each other, we were all singing together and harmonising and rapping out some of our messages to protect Indigenous rights and forests.

Security ended up coming out and very politely informing us that the delegates inside couldn't properly hear the negotiations and could we please move a bit down the corridor. We decided to draw it to a close and have our daily meeting where we prepped for our side event tomorrow.


Mr. Security Guard politely interferes with our plans!

Gemma Tillack is the de facto leader of the Youth Forest Working Group. She is from Tasmania and works for The Wilderness Society. She is very impressive and was answering all these questions about the day's negotiations and strategies NGOs take with negotiations.


"Chatting" to the negotiators just before they go into the REDD negotiations.

After that, I grabbed dinner and went back to the room. Meg and I had a chat about the day's happenings and her project on Indigenous people and mine. Bella came in after the Peatlands talk. We were discussing how interlinked everything was – peatlands, REDD, Indigenous people. I said it would be great if after this course, we drew a venn diagram or something of how everything fits together.

 

 

Learning with the IARU

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Today I headed off from Sleep-In Heaven to meet ANU at the Cabinn Metro. We are living in a very convenient location, just one metro stop away from the Bella Centre where COP15 is being held. We jumped back onto the Metro to Forum (which was where I had come from!) and went to the life science campus of the University of Copenhagen.

Once we got there we participated in a student workshop with students from University of Copenhagen, University of Tokyo, National University of Singapore and University of Vienna. I felt a little inadequate as a lot of the other students were Masters and PhD students. It also made me feel grateful that ANU gives undergraduates the opportunity to study climate change science and policy. It seems like we are forerunners in this respect. Even the Americans I met earlier this week who study at Ithaca said it was rare that climate change courses were offered at American universities.


My group collaborating over initial proposals.

We came up with a couple of ideas for low carbon projects within our small group of five from NUS, University of Tokyo and ANU. The University of Tokyo students were really prepared and came with their ideas all typed up. One of the projects proposed was charging a voluntary carbon tax to individuals and the other one was converting all police cars to electric cars. We made up another collaborative proposal:

Low Carbon Universities: Promoting low carbon universities around the world.

• Targets students: good because students are an engaged, curious group in society and will be around in 2050 to deal with the blowouts of climate change. Targeting this group will encourage a culture of sustainability to be passed down to the next generation
  
• Global level: collaborative website for all universities to upload campus specific projects and discoveries; campus "green" rank (similar to the Times Higher Education Supplement Rank in the Good Universities Guide) because we believe students take into account sustainability levels on campus when choosing universities to attend/go on exchange to; student workshops like today because we had so much fun and learnt a lot!
  
• Campus wide level: campus sustainability index which standardises criteria of carbon emissions for on campus events which are run (Yale possibly already has one); targeting "food, fibre, shelter" projects on campus – composting of food from cafeterias, colleges/halls, having second hand clothes markets in Union Court once a weeks, having swap and shops between students, developing Green Building Regulations for strong insulation rules for buildings, engaging in developing workplace sustainability methods
  
• Exporting feasible, effective on campus ideas to the wider community – eg. Schools, neighbourhoods. For example, introducing urban composting in neighbourhoods; local and state government regulation of green building initiatives, etc.
  
• We want sustainable living to become second nature and not something crazy hippies with dreadlocks do. Targeting universities students is one effective way to do this.
  

Surprisingly, our proposal won "most feasible" category of proposals. I was lucky enough to be chosen from our group to present the project to the afternoon workshop which had leading climate scientists, professors and lecturers (as well as the Japanese Ambassador to Denmark!) in the audience which was both nerve-racking and thrilling!

We had a great lunch where we mixed more with the Tokyo and Copenhagen students and professors and headed over to the afternoon workshop where we heard an array of experts speak on sustainable living and low carbon cities. Many of us enjoyed the irony of all the plastic drink bottles filled with water and soft drink that were on offer at lunch.

I was particularly interested in the case studies of Canberra, Tokyo and Copenhagen in the talk "Towards Low Carbon Cities" and "Food Flows and Ecosystems" which was also on this in relation to the international linkages of food and how difficult it is to eat locally. We heard about e-waste and the lack of regulation surrounding it internationally and how it could possibly be integrated into CDMs for developing countries.

Afterwards we had an amazing dinner of tapas and wine! We headed out to see the bike powered Christmas tree but got sidetracked by a bar.

I'm really excited about getting to know the group of ANU students better. They seem really lovely. Meg showed us all the pictures of her wedding in our room which made me want to get married. Who to? I do not know.

Quotes:

"Why so early if Obama's not coming?" (Meg as she drifts off to sleep and we are talking about waking up early to register)

"Look, your digital diary must be as boring as shit if you're quoting me." (Meg one minute later)

Registration, exploration

Monday, 7 December 2009

Last night I met two Americans from Ithaca University who were in my dorm. They mentioned they were heading over to register early today because they heard the number of badges was going to be limited at COP15.

This morning I woke up and headed over with them. However, when we got there we realised what their friend had told them (that rego opened at 9am) wasn't actually true and rego only opened at 12. Patrick and I went back to Sleep-In-Heaven because he had left his wallet in the room. We then went back to the harbour to check out the Greenpeace ship although once we got there, we realised it wasn't opened today.

Patrick talked my ear off about his life story – how he started out pre-med, then his best friend died and he re-evaluated and decided to study health admin, only to get kicked out in his final semester for helping a friend cheat because her mum was sick and she wasn't studying enough. Now he has just finished an undergrad degree at Ithaca and is applying for grad school at Duke, Columbia and Yale for Environmental Management and Sustainability (or something like that ...) Anyway, it was interesting to hear his convoluted path and how sometimes something really bad can actually be a blessing in disguise – like him getting kicked out of school because now he has found something he is really passionate about.

We got back to COP15 only to find the line super long for registration. Patrick, being bold, asked someone at the front if we could jump in line because he had been there early but just forgotten his wallet. I was so embarrassed at how forward he was but they let us in the line (later I met up with Ella Bella who said she stood in line for 4 hours outside in the cold!) so it didn't take as long as it could have!


A map of COP15. Oh the places to see!

Once we got inside and registered, we ate a great, cheap lunch. We got our hands on a side events program and wandered around. The place is huge and I've never seen so many computers in my life!

I bumped into Alex Raf, a guy who went to Burgmann College with me. He is now working for an NGO on climate justice. He seemed to know a lot about it and was talking about the inequity of climate change and how developed countries have already used 60% of the atmosphere and the rest should be left for the developing world/the developing world should get reimbursed for it .... I'll ask him more later.


Fossil of the Day, Fossil of the Day, who is bad, who is worse?

I saw the Fossil of the Day awards. Fossil of the Day is an institution at COP. At the end of each day, Climate Action Network, presents "Fossil of the Day" awards to the countries which have been particularly obstructive in the negotiations that day. My friend from COY, Siri, was representing Sweden which was awesome (good for Siri, not so good for Sweden!) I went to the Youth Forest Working Group and I am more certain that I want to track them and the REDD/LULUCF developments.

Check out: http://www.fossiloftheday.com/
 

I'm thinking of researching a topic along the lines of:

"The impact that NGOS (specifically the Youth Forest Working Group and ECA) have on LULUCF and REDD negotiations during COP15"

I was buggered, hopped on a bus to the Opening Ceremony at the Town Hall where I had a whole bunch of sandwiches (Copenhagen may in fact be a very conducive environment for a backpacker's budget! - I've been able to limit my eating budget to free food/hot dogs/danishes/fruit) and bumped into a couple of friends from COY. I met Josh who was telling me how he got into the American climate change movement after living at Punta Mona in Costa Rica for a month. Punta Mona is a completely self sustaining farm which is off the grid. Apparently anyone can go and live there for a month or more at a time. I want to go one day!


Copenhagen's beautiful town hall where the COP15 Opening Ceremony reception was held. My photo does not do the building and its architecture justice!

I headed back to the hostel after that and I'm now going to bed. Must get some sleep before a hectic two weeks!

And the Conference of the Youth continues!

Conference of the Youth Group Photo! (Courtesy of Helena Evoxic)

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Today was the second day of the COY. There were two really informative workshops in the morning on LULUCF and REDD which I attended. I found out about the youth forest movement which has strong links with the Ecosystems Coalition and advocates for fair and effective REDD and LULUCF regulations.

We had a big group photo at lunch time and then a regional breakout session where all the Aussies and Kiwis met and spoke about the respective organisations from the Antipodeans. There was also discussion of collaborating on policy and lobbying, particularly as our two governments carefully follow each others' climate change developments.

We then split up into working groups. I felt a bit awkward as I'm not really involved in the activism side of the conference but I went along to the Youth Forest Working Group as they seemed organised and I am interested in what they are lobbying for and I believe in what they are lobbying for – forest management to be included in a LULUCF deal; full, prior, informed consent of Indigenous people for REDD.

In the closing session we heard from the International CEO of Greenpeace who was a student activist during apartheid and fled into exile as a consequence of his activism. He was very passionate and inspirational (although he did seem to quote every cliché in the book – from the Creo saying "Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish caught, will we realise that money cannot be eaten" to Martin Luther King and Gandhi!).

The COY was rewarding because I got a very brief look into the huge youth movement across the world. I realised that it wasn't just crazy, environmentalist hippies who were interested in climate change but young people like me and my friends who realise that we are the ones who are going to be around in 2050, and not all the politicians who are choosing to commit to 2050 targets which means they won't be accountable since they'll be dead.

Some young people have been to negotiations since Nairobi, others have been fasting since Barcelona and even others have never been involved in international negotiations but have been active at home for years. It makes me feel bad that I know so little and have done so little.

All together now – youth, youth, youth!

Saturday 5 December 2009

Wow – they say that you only grow when you go out of your comfort zone.

That couldn't have been more true today. Waking up at 7am in pitch blackness and walking across to the Conference of the Youth venue, I was filled with trepidation, concerned the day would be a useless talkfest for young people from the global north.

I couldn't have been more wrong. The first day of the two day Conference of the Youth (COY) was filled with young people engaging in the climate change negotiation process. The annual COY has been running for the past five years, convening the weekend before the COP. Anyone who considers themselves "youth" may participate. COY is a conference about meeting other young people interested in climate change. There are workshops on different aspects of climate change including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), the latest updates in climate science, how to maximise a day at COP, climate art, how to set up a youth coalition in your country and the list goes on. The workshops are run by other young people who are experienced in the field, whether through formal study or hands on experience. There are also break-out sessions where you brainstorm with other young people about national campaigns, your contribution to COP15 and other issues of climate change

I walked into the COY not knowing one single person but immediately, Ella Bella, a friendly South African girl who started "Miss Earth South Africa" with her sister, helped me find the exact venue of COY. We got chatting in the line for registration and she explained to me that "Miss Earth" is an NGO for young women to empower other young women in South Africa through outreach programs in schools. Her organisation has existed for the past 6 years and in the last two years has really gotten off the ground, parallel with the global climate change activism movement.

Check out http://www.missearthsa.co.za/

The COY was opened by a number of young people involved in YOUNGO – the international youth climate network. We heard from three young people who have been fasting for the past 30 days, drinking only water, their own personal journey of climate change activism. We did some meet and greet activities which were very necessary and useful considering there were over 300 people at the first day of the conference (although they are expecting 700 people tomorrow!)

We broke off into two workshop sessions and I felt like a little kid in a lolly shop – there were so many interesting workshops to choose from ranging from climate change impacts; the process of the UNFCCC; updates on climate science; youth at COP – YOUNGO; utilising a day at COP effectively; traditional media; new media; art and activism; carbon trading and CDM, REDD and forests.

I chose to attend the workshop on the process of the UNFCCC which was led by a very cute French guy, Seb, who has a background in International Environmental Law. The workshop was a very good overview of the UNFCCC, its instruments, bodies and institutions. It was helpful to see how everything fit together, particularly as we have learnt about all the acronyms and groups in Climate Change Science and Policy, but I sometimes forget how everything works together.

The second workshop I attended was on carbon trading and CDM. I was interested to learn more about CDM, particularly because it is so controversial. Unfortunately, the workshop wasn't very focussed and there were various levels of knowledge within the workshop – ranging from some people who didn't know what CDM stood for to others who wanted to know how NAMAs were going to play into the COP 15 negotiations. Nevertheless, the three facilitators were very knowlegable with one of the guys writing his Masters thesis on the topic, another one who had written a book on the flaws of the CDM and the third facilitator from the Global South, speaking on the CDM projects she had been involved with and the flaws of those projects. In the middle of the session, a girl from the Global South broke out in frustration at the ineffectiveness of CDM and how all she and her fellow country people wanted was for an effective, equitable outcome.

We had a great vegan lunch which was provided for us (very good considering the whole COY was completely free) and I met a whole bunch of different people.

I met George from Zimbabwe who is in South Africa, about to start his PhD in solar energy; a group of Australians and Pacific Islanders working on Project Survival Pacific; Emily from the Girl Guides; a girl from Brazil who works full time for "The Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations"; youth delegations from around the world from countries as varied as Malawi, Vanautu; Maldives; the Carribean.


This was one of the (many!) mind maps we came up with throughout the course of the weekend. It was wonderful seeing how a diverse group of people could be united under the same umbrella goals.


My "open space" group in action!

After lunch we had "open spaces" where a group of us got together to talk about our goals of Cop15 and how to take advantage of failures and successes at the COP15. I met a couple of people from the Pacific Islands, as well as Brandon, one of the two Australian Indigenous youth. I met a girl, Lan, from Norway who was with Spire (Sprouts?) which is one of the big youth NGOs in Norway.

We had a breakout session which had a number of options including policy working groups, Climate Change Fast, Youth Declarations, Actions, Bottomlining, website, graphics. I went to Bottomlining to find out more about the governance of YOUNGO and to hear from the young people who have given up hundreds of hours of their time for the global youth climate change movement.

Afterwards we had the closing session where we heard from Anna Rose from Australia who spoke about her journey since Montreal and the setting up of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and how it has grown from 5000 to 51 000. She spoke of Powershift in the US, Australia, Canada, UK, China and India. We also heard from an Australian/Indian and the problems faced engaging the global south and north, particularly to do with funding to COP15.

Afterwards, a couple of us new friends all went out to dinner together. I got to make friends with Siri, Lovisa, Solomon, Linh, Paul, Sadhie. The Swedes told us all about Sweden's great welfare state although how there is a shift to be more like the US, particularly with the new conservative government.

The COY today was more than I could have expected. Everyone was so friendly and eager to meet new people and find out about different activities and projects going on in different countries. It gave me great faith in young people and their role in climate change negotiations. I can't wait for tomorrow!