![Bula Vinaka from the “Pacific COP”]()
by admin | Nov 9, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC
What’s the significance of this being a “Pacific COP”?
Despite being held in gloomy, chilly Bonn, Germany, COP23 has had a warm, tropical feel to it. Each year, the COP is held in different parts of the world as the UN aims to be geographically fair. This year, the conference was meant to be presided over an Asia Pacific country with the ultimate decision coming down to Fiji. Due to the logistical issues a COP would pose, the decision was made to host it at the headquarters of the UNFCCC – Bonn, Germany – while still being presided over by Fiji.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama of Fiji delivers his welcoming address as the incoming President for COP23
Since the COP opening plenary, phrases such as bula vinaka and talanoa mada have made their way into discussions and meetings. The former meaning a warm hello, and the latter describing inclusive, participatory and transparent discussions. The Fijian presidency has worked hard and has done a good job so far to bring their spirit to these crucial climate talks. The renaming of the Facilitative Dialogue to Talanoa Dialogue has been welcomed by all Parties, many of whom have reiterated the importance of inclusivity, participation and transparency in the dialogue, which are all values that will be key to productive talks in the next year toward enhancing ambition and NDCs by 2020. Yesterday we saw an initiative by the Presidency from Fiji and the UNFCCC Secretariat which saw an Open Dialogue between CSOs and the Parties take place for the first time at a COP. The session was a good start and we look forward to seeing more transparent, facilitative, open discussions.
Also the “Ambition COP”
Despite many people thinking of this COP as a “middle-COP”, where no major event or decision is made, COP23 is incredibly important for paving the way forward with increased ambitions by countries in the coming years. It is a fact that the action that has been committed right now via each country’s Nationally Determined Contributions are simply not enough to achieve the temperature goal of either 1.5°C or 2°C as stated in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement. With the current NDCs that were submitted by countries, we are on course for 3°C warming by the year 2100. There is no doubt that more needs to be done and it’s a conversation that many countries are having here at COP23.
As with any negotiations, especially COP negotiations, these conversations are not without complexities. Although many countries agree that ambitions need to be ramped up for both pre-2020 period, as well as in relation to NDCs for post-2020 period, the issue of equity within the ratcheting mechanism is a huge discussion. While there are many mentions of equity and Common, But Differentiated Responsibilities, it is still unclear how the principle is to be implemented into the ambition ratcheting of the Global Stocktake.
Parties and CSOs sit in a roundtable format during the first ever Open Dialogue at a COP, hosted by the COP Presidency and UNFCCC Secretariat.
If the past few days at COP23 are any indication, we are in for an extremely interesting COP, a COP that is hopefully forward-looking, and a COP that should show the world that the Paris Agreement is alive and well, and is performing like how it was designed. I think the negotiator from one of the small island states in the Pacific has most appropriately summed it up. Across a couple meetings, he has made emotional interventions, bordering on saying that the drive for increased ambition, or lack thereof, is a life or death decision that will affect the lives of many Pacific Islanders. It’s time the Parties stand in solidarity with the people of the nations that will suffer the worst and the soonest. This is, after all, the “Pacific COP”. Let’s do it some justice.
Written by Mike Campton
Edited by Emily & Adrian
![MYD Youth Forum on Climate Change – COP23 Side Event]()
by admin | Nov 9, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC
Guten tag and bula vinaka!
The Malaysian Youth Delegation – MYD would love to invite you to our Youth Forum on Climate Change in conjunction with UNFCCC YOUNGO’s Young and Future Generations Day #YFGD at #COP23.
We’ll be exchanging ideas and having a dialogue around the role of youth in climate change discussion in the Global South as well as the Global North. Our list of panelists include:
1. Lhavanya DL from Malaysia
2. Sara Nyberg from Sweden
3. Lagi Seru from Fiji
4. Mona Hosseini from Germany
5. Saffran Mihnar from Sri Lanka
The forum will be held at the Malaysian Pavilion, Bonn Zone, from 10-12pm. If you are able to attend, please sign up at this link: https://goo.gl/forms/mK4g1lZkaWb95TCp2
Venue: Malaysian Pavillion, Bonn Zone
Date: 9th November 2017
Time: 10am – 12pm
RSVP here: https://goo.gl/forms/mK4g1lZkaWb95TCp2
We hope to see you there!
Agenda Young and Future Generations Day 9 November
![COY Day Three – MYD Leads Global Discussion on Climate Action]()
by admin | Nov 8, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, YOUNGO
Team Asia Youth
As part of the Asian Youth Climate Network (AYCN), the Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD) co-hosted a session at the 13th Conference of Youth (COY13) on Youths Climate Action in Asia, which was participated by youths from various countries across the world. The session adopted a World Cafe format, and the participants were separated into four groups at different tables, whereby each group had a lead facilitator to facilitate the discussion. Every table had their own topic that revolved around climate action.
One of the MYD members, Azam, facilitated a table that discussed on ‘How Can Youth Educate the Public?’ It was really interesting to see the different views and perspectives contributed by the participants in interpreting the many ways to install education towards the public. Among the ideas that were brought up in the session included outreach via social media, capacity building workshops, upcycling programmes, sustainable fashion, responsible consumerism and creative ways in approaching the government.
For the wrap up, each tables were required to present the outcome or gist of their discussion. Azam enthusiastically presented on his table’s discussion and Mike volunteered to present on one of the table’s topic, which is ‘The Value of Youth’ – a topic that is crucial in many countries whereby youth are still having challenges in getting their voices heard, in terms of reaching out to the government, policy makers and the public.
Mike Leading Presentation
Putting being biased aside, this session on Youths Climate Action in Asia is one of the best sessions that I have attended as it is highly interactive and spurs up intellectual discourse. Learning on the programmes and movements in not only Asian countries like Taiwan, China, Korea or Japan, but European countries such as France and Germany from the participants attended, truly paints a bigger picture and making my see things in a new paradigm.
Azam Making a Point
The knowledge sharing session was definitely productive and I am glad that MYD played a vital role in getting the conversation going.
Written by Jasmin
Edited by Varun and Kelly
Group picture from the session
![MYD spoke at Youth Day in Nordic Pavilion]()
by admin | Nov 8, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, YOUNGO
Today marks the 1st day (7th of November 2017) of the 23rd session of the Conference of Parties #COP23.
The Nordic countries had a joint pavilion under the auspices of Nordic Council of Ministers and they had set the thematic for the very 1st day of COP23, to be YOUTH DAY.
I was fortunate to be invited as a panelist for one of the session named “Youth and Climate Change”. The session served as a platform for us, the youth, to share our experience of climate change impacts, what paved our way to get empowered, and what we have done to combat climate change. The session had a well-balanced global south and global north representatives.
From left, Adam Leckius (PUSH SWEDEN), Fredrick Ouma, Matilde Solberg Clemesten (The Norwegian Youth Delegation), Thomas Lai (Malaysian Youth Delegation MYD)
After the sharing session, there was a breakout group discussion on four different topics. I moderated one of the discussion, which was based on the role of youth organisations at a national level to accelerate climate action.
The rendezvous was constructive and we managed to compile all ideas into four main roles that youth were able to contribute to speed up climate action:
- Education
- Collaboration
- Green Vote
- Gender Empowerment.
Education
Policy languages tend to be tough to digest as jargon can be widely found. Due to these predicaments, public easily get lost in translation and eventually lost interest in studying about it. Thus, it is really important to translate and convey the message into laymen terms – This is where youth can show its fortitude. It become easier to get the message across in a more meaningful and efficient way as the generation gap is minimal. When comes to creating awareness, nothing can beat the creativity of the youth.
Collaboration
Asides rendering criticism, youth can provide recommendation to the government in combating climate change. In order to provide constructive feedback, it is also vital for the youth to understand the governance of the country (i.e how Federal and State governments function). To enact this, we could encourage the government of the day to educate the public on the governance.
Green Voting
Climate change has become a mainstream issue. Given the fact that most of the people are already aware of this, the politicians may use this a platform to gain extra vote from the public. In order to hold their accountability, we the youth, have a role to play. Before the general election, the youth can gauge the politicians’ knowledge on climate change and/or environment issue (i.e renewable energy, mitigation, adaptation plan). After their manifesto are published, we can then analyse them and constantly follow up with the politicians on the promised they had made.
Gender Empowerment
Climate change is not gender biased as it affects everyone with women, who are the most vulnerable. Educating and empowering the female population can be one of the agenda for youth. During the discussion, William Horsu from Institute For Sustainable Energy & Environmental Solutions, points out a very important statement, which I completely agreed upon.
“When you educate a man, you educate a person. When you educate a woman, you educate the community.”
Enhancing the capacity building of women (not limited to guys as well) is a catalyst for development, which help boost countries with economy growth, socioeconomic development, and also keep environmental problem in check. Last but not the least, increasing the potential of adaptation would be required.
Written by Thomas
Edited by Varun
![COY Day Two – Understanding Climate Negotiations from a Youth Perspective]()
by admin | Nov 8, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, YOUNGO
Understanding Climate Negotiations by Cli’Mates
I walked in a room where everyone was heavily engaged with the speaker. Notes of papers lying on the floor, indicated that I arrived slightly after the participants completed a group exercise, which was to arrange the various international agreements under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in a chronological order. I was moderately glad that I came a bit late, as I would confess of not really being an expert in the history of UNFCCC.
The climate negotiations revolves around UNFCCC, but until what extent do we really know about the UNFCCC? The session took a step back to reflect on the history of the UNFCCC, which began with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In 1990, the UNGA established the International Negotiating Committee (INC) for a Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the same time, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released first assessment report, which stated that ‘emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas’. This in turn led to the second World Climate Conference for a global treaty.
Although it is known that the legal regime in addressing climate change has been around since the 1980s, it is not a well known fact that one of the driving force that pushes the General Assembly to put together a high level mechanism for climate change was actually a southern European island state in the Mediterranean, called Malta. Malta even presented a concrete proposal in the form of a draft solution, which was unanimously presented in the plenary of the General Assembly in 1988.
The ‘Maltese Initiative’ marks the origin of the UNFCCC, with the Conference of the Parties (COP) a the prime authority of the Convention. The text of the UNFCCC was adopted at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in May 1992, and opened for signatures at Rio Earth Summit in June 1992. The ‘ultimate objective’ was to curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. The UNFCCC also recognises that the climate system is largely affected by anthropogenic influences.
In the session, the speaker brought up that the UNFCCC highlights the importance of the Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) principle and commitments, with mitigation being primary followed by adaptation, which was secondary. The UNFCCC greatly emphasised on mitigation measures. Even the EU’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) was largely focused on mitigation. It was not until Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) in 1998, that adaptation was mainstreamed into the UNFCCC process. There were several discussion surrounding adaptation, but were finally resolved in COP10, which was the Buenos Aires Programme of Work on Adaptation and Response Measures.
All these insightful information took about 30 minutes for the speaker to walk us through, with many of the youth in the room looking perplexed and clueless. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Learning the history of the UNFCCC requires perseverance, big time!
References:
Written by Jasmin
Edited by Varun
