![“Where are the children?”]()
by admin | Nov 5, 2016 | MYD2016
Dina and Amal Farooq Malik
Dina and Amal Farooq Malik are no ordinary children. Unlike any other 11 and 13 year olds out there, these two sisters are deeply passionate about the environment and strongly advocate for environmental education and awareness – they are also the co-founders of the Seeds of Education, Policy and Legal Awareness Association (SEPLAA) Young Leaders Club in Pakistan.
It is easy to spot them at the 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Sri Lanka. They were the only children who attended the forum! It is very refreshing to see two vibrant, joyful girls going around collecting pledges among the crowd of serious looking adults in formal attire.
Ammara Malik, the mother of Dina and Amal, made a bold statement during the Opening Plenary’s Q&A session by stating, “Where are the children?” She made a courageous point that within the countless panel discussions with high end and educated speakers who stressed on the importance of education, awareness and capacity building in tackling climate change, yet there are no children involved or participating in the process of consultation, dialogues or decision making.
“SEPLAA Young Leaders Club carry out workshops and classes to underprivileged children, not only on environment but on healthcare as well,” explained Amal.
It was their first time at an international conference. They admitted that they initially thought that it would be boring, but it turned out to be fun. They went around collecting pictures as pledges for their project.
“I believe that children hold a strong voice in decision making, a big part of inclusiveness,” expressed Ammara.
Indeed, children and youth voices are often under-represented when it comes to decision making at both local and international platforms. Children and youth led organisations like SEPLAA Young Leaders Club, among many others, are instilling faith by moving forward with the knowledge transfer and information sharing. For a better and informed future generation, we need to start from young.
Written by Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
![MYD 2016 Training Series #4 – First Contact]()
by admin | Oct 28, 2016 | MYD2016
It was a windy Sunday morning. I arrived earlier at BAC (PJ Campus), found a nice place opposite KFC and went through hundreds of diluted WhatsApp messages to pick up important notes for the next MYD meeting. She arrived with Moon Moon and was looking for coffee. She seems down to earth and friendly. We eventually started chatting on climate negotiation matters before the training started.
The training was simply awesome. She set the scene by giving an overview of climate change negotiation history, starting from the cultivation of the idea of sustainability at Rio de Janeiro’s Earth Summit (1992), the initial formation of the UNFCCC, to a few notorious moments, for instance, Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord, and finally the hard fought Paris Agreement. The scientific recognition of climate change by anthropogenic activities has been highlighted to be particularly essential to bring together the objective of setting a limit of temperature increase in the Paris Agreement. She also briefed us on the 2 major civil society organisations that fight for climate justice, Climate Justice Network and Climate Action Network, which fell apart due to varied opinions.
The Kyoto Protocol was highlighted as a few developed countries such as the US, Japan etc. were reluctant to adopt the agreement. Although 3 market-based mechanisms (Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation and Emission Trading) were introduced, they never entered into force until today. It is believed that the developed countries had since wanted to structure a new agreement that could offer more flexibility in terms of commitment which paved the way for the Paris Agreement. The struggle from switching economic models based on fossil fuel to other energy sources is also another underlying factor for the lack of interest in Kyoto Protocol.
Though many may opine that the Kyoto Protocol has been brought to end after the first commitment period completed in 2012, replaced by the Paris Agreement which will come into force on 4th of November 2016. She pointed out that the Kyoto Protocol is in fact not killed, but abandoned. The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which is also the pre-2020 period after the ratification of the Paris Agreement is indeed an important period where parties should increase their mitigation commitments. Plenty of efforts is needed to iron out the mechanism of loss and damage, climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building prior to 2020.
She also shed light on several heavily debated topics between developed and developing countries, for example, the principle of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, emission cut with support, greenhouse gas emission intensity of GDP etc.
She explained the tug of war between the developed countries and developing countries over the years, one side trying to shed responsibilities while the other demanding for equity and climate finance as well as technology transfer etc. Developed countries have always opined that carbon trading could provide a balance between carbon source and carbon sink while developing countries look beyond carbon offset, demanding to reduce carbon source and conservation as well as expand carbon sink. Technology transfer is also a frequent debating subject as developed countries favour technical cooperation than transfer. Intellectual property rights are also in the limelight for its economic potential.
In terms of climate finance, she enlightened us on the Green Climate Fund. It has been informed that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) sits on the board, representing Malaysia while Third World Network is also one of the civil society organisations in the board. She revealed the debate of equity and burden sharing between developed and developing countries as well as the source of public finances and private sector finances.
The following diagram quickly drew our attention. It is about the comparison between pledged action and fair shares of both wealthier (developed) countries and poorer (developing) countries. It is illustrated that there is an ambition gap for wealthier countries to fill while the poorer countries, on the other hand, pledged more actions than their fair shares.
Source: Fair Shares: A civil society equity review of INDCs, Oct 2015. Figure 1: Fair shares vs Pledged Action (mitigation in 2030 below baseline in Gt CO2eq)
As she talked about the Paris Agreement which will take off in 2020, she also named a few working groups and subsidiary bodies which have an agenda for the upcoming COP22, including the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Paris Agreement (APA), Subsidiary Board of Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Board of Science and Technological Advice (SBSTA) etc.
With regards to COP22, she anticipates that the developed countries will most likely re-negotiate some of the Paris Agreement clauses in favour to their economic and political interest. Hence, developing countries would have to strategize themselves to defend the Paris Agreement, besides working on enhancing support for the financial and technology transfer aspects in the agreement. The mechanism of global stocktake is to be ironed out and the topic of capacity-building, education and public awareness, as well as transparency of action and support, may also grab attention, and developing countries would certainly like to maintain the momentum since the success of the Paris Agreement. She thinks that Malaysia may have to look into climate change adaptations, particularly the agriculture and forestry sector. For example, wetlands and mangroves forests.
Strings of questions were directed to her before the training dismissed at 1pm which was nearly an hour extended and she was delighted having to resolve our queries. She may have left us but she has already instilled the will and determination to fight for a better future in all of us.
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. She is Ms Chee Yoke Ling from the Third World Network, and MYD would like to express our utmost gratitude for her generosity in sharing her invaluable insights with us at our fourth training series. Thank you.
Written by: Kelvin Diong Siong Loong
![Day 3 – 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum (Jasmin)]()
by admin | Oct 28, 2016 | MYD2016
Opening Plenary Session on Climate Resilient Development
The final day builds up the anticipation of what the Forum has to deliver as they approach to an end. It started off with an Opening Plenary Session on Climate Resilient Development. An enlightening presentation by Kira Vinke, a research analyst from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, which captures the essence of the Paris Pathway for Asia and the Pacific. She remarked that the Paris Agreement was a success at the conference but it needs to be filled with action. A call for action that was suggested is to identify the most vulnerable areas and produce hazard maps.
Another speaker on the panel that caught my attention is Christina Rumbaitis del Rio, Regional Programme Manager, Action on Climate Today, India, who addressed the issue of climate denial. Even though the evidence of science behind climate change is clear, there are still a large number of people who are still sceptical about the whole concept. “Issue of denial is very real and serious that is affecting progress. I would prefer to use climate change resilience rather than climate change adaptation. Resilience is a better mental framework for what we are willing to achieve. Resilient framing is positive,” said Christina.
The session was then followed by a very empowering “Enhancing gender responsive adaptive capacity in communities” parallel session. Gender issue is a critical agenda. There has to be a paradigm shift of not looking at when as being most vulnerable, although women are most affected, but also the ones that can make the most change. Nisha Onta, Gender and Climate Expert, Woman Organising for Change in Agriculture and NRM, Bangkok (WOCAN), expressed that climate financing is a crucial factor in mobilising women in taking action for climate change. It was nice to see a women majority on the stage for a change.
Written by: Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
![Day 3 – 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum (Dulanga)]()
by admin | Oct 21, 2016 | MYD2016
Three days of productive culture, climate change induced power cuts and knowledge
The final day of the 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum started off with a panel discussion moderated by Amy Leung (Deputy Director General, ADB, Philippines). The session focused on ‘Climate Resilient Development’ and signified the importance of the Paris Agreement. If the Paris Agreement did not take place in a scenario where ‘business as usual’ was going forward, the increase in temperature we would be looking at is about 6%. The Paris Pathway for Asia and the Pacific was discussed in depth at the session and focused on the tipping points related to 2%. 22 of the 29 developing countries have already ratified the Paris Agreement which is a step forward in achieving climate resilient development as the effects of climate change are felt mostly by those most vulnerable living in the most exposed areas in the region.
Building hazard maps and creating awareness via education were some of the ways of protecting those vulnerable while a controversial topic was touched upon when Kira Vinke of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany suggested that people in the region should be taught to move away from their traditional knowledge of weather changes as they are not applicable in a world where climate change has altered monsoon patterns.
Jeremy Bird, Director General of the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka focused on how industrialisation increased the spread of agriculture around the globe which emits 7-12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. He also recognised that the agriculture sector was a key area for mitigation in the region. Professor Mahanama from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka addressed the issue of Asian societies and its dependence on the Monsoons. His ideas focused on how lifestyle changes are mandatory in an era where climate change drives natural processors, specifically around the Bay of Bengal which impacts all the small island nations in the said geographic area. He also focused on how Asian cities were not built to respond to climate change. Restructuring our cities to withstand droughts and cyclones was proposed as an alternative to relocation, especially in islands like Sri Lanka where limited land, catchment areas and Human Elephant Conflict play a major role in selecting sites for relocation. He praised Sri Lanka’s vision of developing greater Colombo as a megapolis city, where the structures are moving inwards away from the coastline prone to disasters due to the rise in sea levels. The Sri Lankan government is also working on a program that allows state banks to provide bank loans to promote solar panels in houses as a means of including clean power to the national grid that runs 60% on hydropower and the rest on a coal power plant that has caused the recent power cuts in the island.
In an age where not just villagers and farmers but world leaders also deny climate change, Christina del Rio of the Action on Climate Today focused on how to overcome climate denial. Her ideas revolved around humans’ response to fear and speaking to hearts and minds.
Signing off from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Written by: Dulanga Nimanthie Sahabandu Witharanage
![Day 2 – 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum (Jasmin)]()
by admin | Oct 21, 2016 | MYD2016
The High Level Panel Discussion on Environment and Climate Authorities Debate at APAN2016
The gap between policy and practice has been an unsolvable issue for many decades. Time and time again scientists are faced with the constant challenge of communicating their work and research into an implementable action. There is a struggle of translating readied information into policy, and institutions are more often than not, merely side notes, in the process of policy making.
The evidence of Sri Lanka being a country that “walks the talk” was clearly portrayed by the President of Democratic Socialist of Sri Lanka, who is at the forefront of addressing climate change as an important issue faced by the country. According to Harsha de Silva, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka, the President took an inclusive approach to getting everyone in the parliament to participate and discuss before ratifying the Paris Agreement. Sri Lanka is now in the stage of developing an Act for Climate Change, which clearly shows that Sri Lanka is committed to this climate change agenda.
Community-based adaptation is a topic that was widely discussed in today’s session. The session that I attended, “Effective strategies for informed decision-making on adaptation measures for enhanced resilience”, touched on the various key stakeholders and their roles in making informed decision-making.
Thea, from Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) Vietnam pointed out an interesting approach to making the most vulnerable resilient through Community Based Climate Change Initiatives (CBCCI). There are many benefits of this approach, which includes reduced vulnerability to disasters and climate change, protection of natural disasters and sometimes greenhouse gas mitigation, poverty reduction, food security and economic development as well as empowerment and solidarity.
Advocating climate change often comes with a string of challenges. More often than not, these challenges lie within communication breakdown or lack of communication. Thus, it is imperative to address this issue at hand immediately, by identifying common grounds of the government, private and NGO sectors. Only then can we solve and close the knowledge-policy-practice loop.
Written by: Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
