During COP21, I attended this side event, discussing enablers and obstacles in implementing INDCs, which reveal the complexity of de-carbonisation, integration of multiple objectives & implementation challenges.
Side event detail
Some countries may be heading toward economic deficits due to impacts of climate change. So, will INDCs advance or retard a country’s development? Let us delve deeper into this issue and further understand this concept.BrazilEmilio La Rovere (COPPE) is from Brazil. He mentioned that Brazil is facing deep political and economic crisis now. Brazil is sharply reducing deforestation since 2014. Carbon emissions are still increasing, due to energy-related and agricultural industries. In order to decrease GHG emissions effectively, Brazil will invests in cleaner technology. He also mentioned that the current renewable energy profile is already in line with the government’s 10-year energy plan. Emilio also mentioned that Brazil will be further researching on second generation biofuels to increase its energy efficiency and reducing its GHG emissions. He believes this will create new job opportunities.I believe you are as curious as I was regarding the term “second generation biofuel”. First generation biofuels are derived from crops such as sugarcane and vegetable oil. Whereas second generation biofuels, are fuels that manufactured from lignocellulosic biomass (plant biomass) and is seem as an alternative to petroleum for the production of biofuels. The feedstock can get from agricultural residue, forest residue or municipal solid waste. Albeit second generation biofuel yield a higher energy efficiency compared to first generation, the production is still challenging due to the complexity of the biomass and issues related to production and logistic. South AfricaHilton Trollip (MAPS; Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa) started his speech by providing the current situation faced by South Africa. South Africa is facing a food security problem and it will be a tough time for them to get in line with their INDC. Due to economic recession, South Africa cannot afford renewable energy as the country needs to domestically purchase vast amount of fossil fuel for electricity generation. Since the country is highly dependent on fossil fuel, this gives the coal based industries higher influencing power to reject the adoption of renewable energy. In order to tackle this, Hilton stated that the country is undergoing independent researches on decarbonisation at the same time without jeopardizing the economy. He also believes that going green will create more job opportunities.IndiaNavroz Dubash (Centre for Policy Research, India) mentioned that India wants to develop climate policies that are driven by long term goals. In India, climate change is not a political issue but energy security. 300 millions of people in India do not have access to electricity and 10 to 12 million job need to be introduced to reduce poverty. On top of these, air pollution is also a persistent concern that will increase health risk of respiratory diseases. In order to reach a win-win situation, he states that India needs to take action to stop building highly reliant carbon future to prevent undesirable circumstances. PeruDavid Garcia(Project PlanCC, Peru) stated that Peru is focusing on an adaptation plan instead of a mitigation plan. From his point of view, it is a trade off between mitigation and adaptation when it comes to funding.The country is developing strong technical and practical data that can be used to convince policy makers. Working well with the government is the key for a better climate future. Moreover, he brought up that Peru wants to stop deforestation and has better waste management practices.Written by: Thomas Yoke Hwa LaiEdited by: Loh Rachel
Thanks to The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), one of our generous funders to COP21 that the three of us had the chance to attend the launching ceremony of Paris Declaration on Agriculture Diversification on the 7 December 2015 by UNMC special arrangement.
This declaration is spearheaded by the Malaysia-based CFFRC or Crops for the Future Research Centre. The government of Malaysia together with the University of Nottingham in Malaysia are the guarantors of CFFRC which was established in 2011 to provide research support to improve food and nutrition security, health and incomes of the poor, as well as the sustainable management of fragile ecosystems.
The ceremony started with a short presentation by Prof Sayed Azam-Ali, the CEO of CFFRC. During his opening speech, he reminded or more precisely, enlightened (since many of us has no idea on this) the audiences on our current situation of global agriculture. The whole world is mainly dependent on 4 major crops- maize, wheat, rice and soybean to feed 7 billion people. Problems that accompanied by this monoculture does not only cover food insecurity, but also extend to social problems such as malnutrition and poverty.
Prof Sayed Azam-Ali, CEO of CFFRC giving his opening speech
Since the world relies heavily on a few crop-producing countries, any extreme weather brought by climate change will lead to massive production shock. Food shortage in this sense will further lead to malnutrition especially among the people in the poorer countries. Many of the farmers and people working in the agriculture production will be directly and indirectly affected due to poor crops yield. This will affect their livelihood and poverty will befall them.
That is where agriculture diversification steps in. More variety means less reliance on a single major crop and this will reduce the effect of both poverty and malnutrition has any of the crops is severely impacted by climate change. Besides, this is able to promote the underutilized crops which might be more resilient to climate change.
I have always known that climate change affects agriculture much as climatic conditions are very influential on the growth of crops. Perhaps as a city kid, the problems of agriculture all felt too distant to me. Unlike my parents, I have never grown up with the view of fruit estates or golden paddy field but I believe I am not alone, majority of the younger generation in my country are the same. Food is always abundant and easily available in the city and even most of the rural villages, but that does not mean it will stay the same way forever.
Think about it- where does all my daily food come from? We use money to buy it, but when there is food shortage, what is left for us to buy? I am a rice person, as further confirmed by my 2 weeks stay in Paris where I have been craving for rice for several times.
I CANNOT IMAGINE HOW AM I GONNA LIVE WITHOUT RICE, SERIOUSLY.
NO RICE = No Nasi Lemak, no Sushi etc. Well, you get what I meant; at least from an individual level and when I am a typical foodie Malaysian.
However, it also came to my concern that encouraging the need of diversifying agriculture might also lead to more forest being deforested for such purpose in Malaysia. But the idea of urban farming mentioned by Prof Sayed in our casual conversation sounds like a brilliant idea to solve this!
I personally like how urban farming could diminish the transportation hassle from production sites to selling place. Besides, it can provide opportunities for urban people to witness and experience how is it like to farm near to home; which somehow filled in the gap that I mentioned between myself with agriculture production. Most importantly, vertical farming in urban area can also solve the problem of limited land use. Through this method, there is high chances where we can minimize deforestation and diversify our crops.
So Hurray 😀 to this wonderful idea and keeps our finger crossed for the implementation !
Prior to COP21, we planned to conduct a Malaysian gathering or more like a makan (eating) session to gather Malaysians inside and outside COP. I was in charge of conducting and it seems to be so much harder than whichever gathering that I have done before.
Firstly, Malaysians in COP21 are very diverse. They are all both inside and outside COP; and very have different schedule. People from GEC, TWN, some other national delegations including negotiators are those who are inside COP. Whereas Wininie from JOAS, Quek Yew Aun and some other Malaysians who have no access to enter COP venue. Plus, all of them arrive Paris at different timing.
Secondly, it’s a hassle finding a venue. People inside COP are busy with own stuff and would prefer to stay in. But if the meeting place is inside COP, what about the others outside? Well partially it was just me being too perfectionist of wanting to include as many people as I can. I think it’s also important to let people inside COP to know what are the people doing outside COP and vice-versa. This might lead to more coordination and collaboration too!
Thirdly, it’s actually my fault not placing this as my priority to do which leads to late coordination from my side. I only started to coordinate at the end of first week.
Even with all the odds against me, I decided proceed, set a time and see how it goes. Sunitha from national delegation and Raj from GEC came, I thought it was better than nothing. It was pretty casual, networking and exchanging opinions. Most importantly, so nice to listen to the familiar Malaysian English :p
There was an unexpected round of “gathering” few days later. It was at the end of negotiations period where our negotiator- Dr Gary as well as Hilary from TWN who are apparently the busiest people in COP actually told us they r free and they offer to meet up with us (asked separately btw). LIKE WOAHHH. Am i dreaming listening to this. But yeah! Rare chance! So we asked Sunitha to tag along too and tadaaa our unexpected second round of Malaysian makan session kinilah terjadi. Woohoo! (With higher MYD attendance hurrayyy)
MYD members lunch session with fellow Malaysians in COP21- (3rd from the left: Dr. Gary Theseira, Malaysia national negotiator; 4th from left: Hilary Chiew from Third World Network (TWN); and 1st from right: Sunitha Bisan from Malaysia National Council of Women’s Organisations (NCWO).
Lesson learnt: this type of makan session can be done more than once, to fit this kind of situation of everyone is everywhere. And I think MYD is capable of organising this because of our pre engagement with fellow Malaysians. So we should continue organising such makan session and make it a MYD tradition in every COP. Fantastic 😀
P.s. you know, the adults are actually very happy to have our presence- the bubbly and happy youths around them especially when they are stressing out with the negotiations. Didn’t know that is actually the easiest thing we can contribute in COP which is just simply our presence.
Hilary Chiew, Climate Change Researcher,Third World Network
Hilary Chiew [4th from left] with MYD during COP21
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP21 ended last month, with 188 countries and other stake-holders negotiating the Paris Agreement to mitigate the worsening effects of climate change. Malaysia has approximately 14 years to meet its commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent from its 2005 levels. Whether or not this is possible, given the level of government and private sector initiatives, remains to be seen. Today, we explore the policies implemented by Malaysia in achieving the pledge made in COP21, assessing the positive actions taken and the barriers the country will face along the process.
This is a report by Jason Lim and May Barani Lwin.
Some countries may be heading toward economic deficits due to impacts of climate change. So, will INDCs advance or retard a country’s development? Let us delve deeper into this issue and further understand this concept.
Brazil
Emilio La Rovere (COPPE) is from Brazil. He mentioned that Brazil is facing deep political and economic crisis now. Brazil is sharply reducing deforestation since 2014. Carbon emissions are still increasing, due to energy-related and agricultural industries. In order to decrease GHG emissions effectively, Brazil will invests in cleaner technology.
He also mentioned that the current renewable energy profile is already in line with the government’s 10-year energy plan. Emilio also mentioned that Brazil will be further researching on second generation biofuels to increase its energy efficiency and reducing its GHG emissions. He believes this will create new job opportunities.
I believe you are as curious as I was regarding the term “second generation biofuel”. First generation biofuels are derived from crops such as sugarcane and vegetable oil. Whereas second generation biofuels, are fuels that manufactured from lignocellulosic biomass (plant biomass) and is seem as an alternative to petroleum for the production of biofuels. The feedstock can get from agricultural residue, forest residue or municipal solid waste. Albeit second generation biofuel yield a higher energy efficiency compared to first generation, the production is still challenging due to the complexity of the biomass and issues related to production and logistic.
South Africa
Hilton Trollip (MAPS; Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa) started his speech by providing the current situation faced by South Africa. South Africa is facing a food security problem and it will be a tough time for them to get in line with their INDC. Due to economic recession, South Africa cannot afford renewable energy as the country needs to domestically purchase vast amount of fossil fuel for electricity generation. Since the country is highly dependent on fossil fuel, this gives the coal based industries higher influencing power to reject the adoption of renewable energy. In order to tackle this, Hilton stated that the country is undergoing independent researches on decarbonisation at the same time without jeopardizing the economy. He also believes that going green will create more job opportunities.
India
Navroz Dubash (Centre for Policy Research, India) mentioned that India wants to develop climate policies that are driven by long term goals. In India, climate change is not a political issue but energy security. 300 millions of people in India do not have access to electricity and 10 to 12 million job need to be introduced to reduce poverty. On top of these, air pollution is also a persistent concern that will increase health risk of respiratory diseases. In order to reach a win-win situation, he states that India needs to take action to stop building highly reliant carbon future to prevent undesirable circumstances.
Peru
David Garcia (Project PlanCC, Peru) stated that Peru is focusing on an adaptation plan instead of a mitigation plan. From his point of view, it is a trade off between mitigation and adaptation when it comes to funding.The country is developing strong technical and practical data that can be used to convince policy makers. Working well with the government is the key for a better climate future. Moreover, he brought up that Peru wants to stop deforestation and has better waste management practices.
Written by: Thomas Yoke Hwa Lai
Edited by: Loh Rachel
Host: Arlene
