![The Evening When Paris Agreement is Adopted]()
by admin | Jan 3, 2016 | Blog, MYD2015, UNFCCC
On 12 December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted. That day might be a wonderful day for some people, but might not for others. It certainly is not easy for 196 countries to come together and have a common agreement that everyone will adopt, compromise will surely needed.
During the closing plenary of the Comite de Paris, something happened.
At the final hour before the meeting of Paris Agreement adoption started, a typographical error was noticed. In the Article 4.4 (“Developed country Parties should continue taking the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets….”), the initial wording should be “ developed countries shall…” but the “shall” was changed to “should”, which diluted the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR)”. “Shall” word will grant the developed countries a stronger legal obligation while “should” is considered as guidance only.
That night the Malaysian Delegation was very down, some of them were red-eyed when they left the hall. No intervention giving by Malaysia after the adoption of the agreement. In fact, they had been fighting very hard at the last minute after the error was spotted. However, the correction never happened because if they need to change the wording, another Comite de Paris need to be called and the arguments may continue and there might not be any Paris Agreement reached.
After seeking opinion and explanation from other people, I comprehend that in the formation of LMDC is “interesting”. Big countries like India and China would have many “friends” in the negotiation table, but why they choose to group with Malaysia? It is because that Malaysia has good relationship with many countries, our negotiators are sharp, vocal and respectable in the field. While the purpose of Malaysia forming alliance with the big developing countries is to get support for certain stand. Some of the LMDC members probably hoping Malaysia stay firm on the CBDR demand.
This is politics. Though the Paris Agreement is not perfect, but for now we should work together and ensure elements included in the Agreement are achieved accordingly.
Written by Elaine
Photo credit: www.cbc.ca
![Side Event in COP21: Asean collaboration in tackling Peatland Fires, Haze and Climate Change]()
by admin | Jan 3, 2016 | MYD2015, UNFCCC
Side Event in COP21: Asean collaboration in tackling Peatland Fires, Haze and Climate Change
In this session, Dr. Gary William Theseira, Deputy Undersecretary, Environment Management and Climate Change Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia has shared several key points on how Asean countries come together in combating climate change, peatland fires and haze including:-
At COP21: Asean is not a group to speak at COP but for the past two years. Asean has been working as a group on a joint statement on climate change.
Adaptation strategy by Asean on climate change: Asean Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) was formed to find common ground to fight climate change and hence, they agreed to share information of sea level rise, extreme events in detailed levels.
Asean on sharing expertises:
ASEAN Haze Monitoring System (AMHS) developed by Singapore cost $100,000 is expected to make use of land concession maps from each country, hot-spot data and high resolution satellite images to pinpoint companies responsible for burning land illegally.
Asean work closely in conducting researches and a number of joint programs related to forest and natural areas. E.g. Global Environment Centre
Thailand (Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization, TGO) make a good position in Carbon Labelling.
Malaysia share their expertise promoting Green Building Monitoring Tool – monitor the life cycle of architecture / building.
Here are some Q&A on how Asean Countries handle Peatlands and Climate Change:-
Q: Do you have any framework on tackling illegal forest burning and encroachment? As I understand, Asean cannot interfere other Asean countries that causes this problem.
Law and legislation are there but there is lack of implementation/enforcement on peatlands in the region. Currently Asean is coordinating enhance capacity of local government, local sectors, and community to work together. Further works need to be done.
Q. Direct to Dr. Gary: I am struck by your statement that ASEAN countries want to develop without becoming the major emitter. How Asean can contribute in the debate in equity when it comes into the agreement. How Asean can come into play in the negotiation?
Dr. Gary: There is growing role in Renewable Energy. Asean does not have access to traditional Renewable Energy like wind, and solar. We are looking forward to something like biomass and wave energy. This is where technology transfer comes in. This could be the pathway where we can achieve clean energy.
Rehabilitation of peat swamps are achievable in other parts of the world but we need to consider the cultural, and social parts of the world.
With the current technologies – it is evident the cost is very high. For instance, to build a railroad, every one meter you need two concrete slippers. We know the carbon price of steels and concrete slippers. We need to pass via a phase where carbon emissions will be higher. We are trying to incorporate that into agreement. Benefit of that, you can remove x number of cars. Means and numbers are there. We need to come down to speak honestly. We need to come down to the level where we can honestly discuss and work on this together.
Q. I think we are overlooking issue such as peatland subsidence. Peatland oxidize, carbon release to the air and soil is lowered 5 cm per year. In asean region. Bottom of the peats lie below. What would the solution be in addressing such issue?
Peatland subsidence (lowering of the soil): Impact of drainage without fire has been recognized as the main sources of GHG. That has led to adoption of new principles and criteria. Any plantations on peat must do a drainage projection on the next 40 years. If not, it must rehabilitate and use only for wet-production. Only applicable to RSPO for now. This is one of the major challenges in the future.
Q. Long Term Solution for Haze Problem?
Dr. Gary: Long term solution to the haze problem lies in building your capacity of indigenous and local people the dangers of traditional agricultural practices in a changing environment.
Written by: Jolene Journe T.
![Performing at Asia Cultural Night during Asia Day at COP21]()
by admin | Jan 3, 2016 | #PowerShiftMsia, Blog, MYD2015
During Promulgation Ceremony of the Malaysian Youth Statement on Climate Change towards COP21, I met Winnie from Jaringan Orang Asli SeMalaysia (JOAS) or The Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia. JOAS is the umbrella network for 21 community-based non-governmental organisations that have indigenous peoples’ issues as the focus. As the focal point for indigenous rights and advocacy in Malaysia, JOAS provides the indigenous communities with representation not just nationally, but regionally and internationally as well.
From chatting with her, I found out that she will be going to COP21 too, as a representative of JOAS. Hence, we stay connected via whatsapp prior to the trip so that my team and I could contact her or we could take care of each other in Paris in case of any emergency. After all, there is no harm in making more friends.
Before we depart to Paris, she contacted me for assistance in helping her in her Sumazau Dance performance during Asia Day on 9 December 2015 (Wednesday). Sumazau dance is a popular traditional folk dance of the Kadazan Dusun in Sabah. It is often performed during the harvest festival celebration every May. I cannot find a reason why I should reject her offer, so I informed the team and they agreed to help out too. Deep in my heart, I was so excited because this will be my first ever dance performance and it will held at Paris.
During COP21, Emily and I met her on Monday (the same week as Asia Day) to learn the dance at Indigenous People Pavilion located in the Climate Generation Spaces (Green Zone) in Le Bourget. For your information, green zone is one of the officiate zone by COP21 that open to both public and accredited persons. It provides a huge space for debates, knowledge-sharing, discussions and conviviality. The IP pavilion will be focusing on indigenous people from Asia to showcase their cultures, ways of life and knowledge that provide solutions to climate change.
While learning the dance, Winnie explained to me that the dance was inspired by eagle flying patterns, symbolising freedom. For a first timer like me, the dance was not as hard as I expected as some of the moves are repetitive.
Asia Day was held on Wednesday with a variety of programme from morning till evening. Winnie was one the speakers for the panel discussion on Indigenous Peoples’ Contribution to Climate Change. She shared successful environmentally- friendly initiatives such as micro-hydro and community-led fisheries management system. The dance was arranged at the end of the programme which is “Asia Reception and Cultural Night”. Normally when I hear about cultural night, my first thought is that I can try food from different regions. My dream did come true and I will explain in a while.
My team and I arrived in the late afternoon for rehearsal. We met a youth delegate from Taiwan when we were walking from Blue Zone and he joined us for the dance performance as well. *applause*. Since the team is completed now, a clearer picture of the dance move can be seen. Still, practices makes perfect. After a few round of rehearsals, we were confident that we will be able to deliver the dance smoothly.
The cultural night was packed with a few traditional dance performances by indigenous people in Asia regions such as Mongolia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bhutan. Each of the performance was unique and impressive. Our performance, the Sumazau Dance is arranged at the closing of the event. As a result, everyone, including the audiences and other indigenous people started to dance together with us. At first, I was very nervous but after a while I felt nothing but joy. That moment had indeed became one of my emotional anchors from now on.
As mentioned above, cultural night is normally linked with food. Yeap, traditional food from different Asian regions were served after the performances ended. To name a few, there were momo (dumplings) from Nepal, Hivana (Fish salad) from Malaysia, Salad Tea Leaves from Myanmar and Dim Sum. All of them taste really delicious. That made me felt a sudden pang of homesickness. I miss char kuey tiao, satay, laksa and bak kut teh back in Malaysia.
After the meal, we headed back to Blue Zone to attend Comite de Paris.
Written by: Thomas Lai
Edited by: Merryn Choong
![Personal Experience in Pre-COP Arrangement]()
by admin | Jan 3, 2016 | Blog, MYD2015, UNFCCC
Grocery store right opposite our apartment
When I was filling in the MYD feedback form, there is a question asking about which part of COP did I think I performed the best. To be honest, I think I perform well (not to say the best) during pre-COP period, where all the necessary preparation and arrangement were needed to be done. I really like what I was doing at that moment because my objective is, to have a proper team, to attend COP21 and learn together. This article will focus on my experience in pre-COP arrangement.
Accommodation
I took the lead in accommodation arrangements. A few type of accommodation search engines were used in order to make the best comparison in terms of prices, amenities and location. To name a few, there are hostelworld, booking.com, hotels.com, agoda and Airbnb. To speed up the shortlist process, I narrowed down the scope of the search. For example, I only search 1 to 2 stars hotel or apartment. Obviously, the price of accommodation from 3 stars and above are expensive and there is no reason for me to do so. We are there for work, not for holiday.
All shortlisted accommodation were compile into a spreadsheet to ease comparison. After much discussion with the team, we decided to choose Mim’s apartment from Airbnb. The apartment is situated at a strategic location. It was located near to Gare Du Nord. Gare Du Nord is like Malaysia KL Sentral (public transport hub) and it has a direct train line to travel to Le Bourget Airport (COP21 venue). There is also a grocery store just in front of it, which is convenient for us because we were planning to cook, in order to save money. Last but not least, the most attractive factor is the price! The host of the apartment, Mim is a nice person and he gave us a good deal. Thus, I highly recommended his apartment to those who wish to travel to Paris in a group of 4 to 6. Trust me, you will be amazed by the interior design and the amenities provided.
The whole process, from the beginning till the day the booking was finally confirmed, took around 2 months! It took longer than I expected, and it was not easy to coordinate among my team members. Insufficient funds also resulted in a delay for the booking. Well, nothing last forever, so goes to the bad days. We managed to get everything sorted out at the end of October and the apartment that we desired was booked.
Budget planning
To date, this is my second time working on budget planning since my university project 3 years ago. To summarise my experience, budget planning is not difficult but it requires constant monitoring. The price of some expenses such as Airfare vary from time to time. Today, the price of the Airfare is RM1800, tomorrow the price might fluctuate to RM2500.00 and, the following day it might fall back to RM1800. In short, my feeling is like riding a roller coaster.
To ease my job, I set up a daily update notification, to check for the airfare for a few chosen airlines. Besides, research done for the food expenses is also time consuming. Thanks to Internet, everything is possible with just a few clicks. The initial food budget per diem is 18 Euro (approx RM85) based on the estimated calculation I obtained from online and recommendations from friends that are currently staying at Paris. The budget per diem increased during mid of November as we have adequate funds and I also wish to have a better team welfare. Moreover, it is also advisable to allocate higher value during budget planning so that there are reserved funds available in case of overrun.
After staying a week in Paris, we as a team felt that the food budget is more than sufficient as some of the days we cook ourselves. As a result, we agreed to change back to the initial budget. Aside from these, different people have different eating lifestyle. For those who wish to have fine dining for every meal, i am sorry to say that 18 Euro is hardly possible even for a single meal. No offense but chinese food in Paris is relatively cheaper and the good thing is there is rices available. #ASIAN
Develop necessary documents
I also have the opportunity to work on producing a MYD2COP21 logistic handbook. In my opinion, a handbook is essential as it is the best way to share all relevant information to the team members. The handbook consists of all the information needed such as accommodation, public transportation know-how, registration for COP21, a list of parallel events and emergency contacts. Albeit COP21 is over, you are most welcome to refer to the handbook for future references. While developing the handbook, it gave me a clearer picture on how each “system” work, especially the public transport system.
Unlike Malaysia, the public transport system in Paris is way more complicated! Please click this link if you do not believe me and be prepare to get your mind go haywire. But again, technology has made our life so much easier now. There are 2 free public transport apps that come in handy when you want to plan your journey in Paris, namely RATP: Subway Paris and Visit Paris by Metro.
Besides, I also created a customised google map that pinpointed most of the location and description of parallel events that happened during COP21. I felt that the map is very useful as everyone can check on all the events in a single map. It’s so convenient! The only thing I regretted about it is, I did not manage to share this map to a wider audience. *what a waste*
Training series
In order to get ready for “war” during COP21, we need to equip ourselves with sufficient knowledge of understanding climate change and UNFCCC. From July until November 2015, a series of training workshops were organised by MYD to enhance youth skills and understanding in climate change & UNFCCC negotiations. The workshops were hosted by various climate experts, government bodies and civil society leaders to share on related topics with the youth delegation as well as the public.
For more information, please click here.
Written by: Thomas Lai
Edited by: Merryn Choong
![Climate Change is NOT only about Environment]()
by admin | Jan 3, 2016 | Blog, MYD2015, UNFCCC
After joining Gan Pei Ling’s training session one month before we departed to Paris, I started to think how should we explain climate change in a wider context to people around us. I like how she broke down climate change into smaller pictures by relating the issues to politics, geography, culture, economy, education etc. This idea further developed when I saw many people with different backgrounds and from different sectors attending the COP21 in Paris.
Photo credit: www.mindmapart.com
Many people around me always think that climate change is global warming and global warming is cutting down trees and the increase of numbers of cars on the streets. Sometimes it might be a bit frustrating to listen to that; it’s like how people is telling you that the fried rice is made of rice only while you know there is some soy sauce, MSG and oil inside of it.
What I am trying to say here is that people tend to focus on the superficial part of the problem and ignore the story behind the picture. So let’s see what are important elements of the climate change that we should also pay attention to:
- Politics – What is UNFCCC? It is a United Nation Conference on climate change which 196 countries will meet up and discuss about the ways and commitments that every nation should contribute to fight against this crisis. “Countries”, “discuss”, “ways and commitments”, these terms portray how politics play the game in climate change, especially in climate policy and climate finance. The efforts of controlling climate change is highly dependent on the political stand of the Parties.
- Social and Culture – Extreme weathers might cause the cultural heritage like monuments to be eroded at a higher rate. Indigenous people will lost their livelihoods and might need to move away from their original habitats. Changes in culture is inevitable for societies to adapt and cope with climate change. For instance, the awareness about climate change has risen over time and large population started to change their lifestyle to a more sustainable one.
- Education – As climate change exacerbate, the climate education become more and more important to build capacity and to increase the unity among the people and the authorities to curb the climate change. Campaigns, talks, videos, articles etc all are considered as climate education. Many people who are staying in the outskirts have relatively low accessibility to the information about climate change which will caused them to be more fragile in front of the alteration in climate.
- Economy – The efforts and the focus of the countries on combating climate change will be a very important pointer of the economy because the development of the green industry and the dirty energy industry will be relying on that. Besides, climate change will be causing extreme weather which affects the crop yield and increases the loss and damage of the citizens. This will further influence the price of food and the economy of the countries which main output are agricultural products.
- Geography – The rising sea level no doubt will be causing a change in the geographical size of the land while the extreme weather will bring about uncommon weather pattern and increase the fertility of the land. The landscape of an area would also be changed by climate change.
- Demography – When the landscape and fertility of the land altered, the people whose livelihood depends on the agricultural activities would have to search for other ways to survive, for example, shifting to the city and work in the factory or moving away from the lowland that has annual flood. This will result in changes of demography in the areas/cities. The climate migration might incur geopolitical problems like overcrowding, food shortage or even civil war.
- Biodiversity – Excessive logging is one of the reasons of climate change. Climate change makes the environment less conducive for certain vulnerable flora and fauna because some species are highly sensitive and is very “picky” about their habitats. Many crop yields decrease because of climate change and this will affect the economy and increase the climate migration.
- Human rights – There are many organizations which focus on gender equality and indigenous people are very concerned on climate change because these groups are usually the front-line victims of the climate issues. For instance, women in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are faced with difficulties in food production, household water supply and energy supply because of climate change. They are comparatively inaccessible towards technologies, capacity building and financial resources.
- Religion – Many spiritual leaders have already recognized the need to curb climate change, mostly by publishing religious statement on climate change. They urge the Parties and public to acknowledge the need to take good care of the God’s creation and to work towards the same goal of protecting the environment.
In fact, climate change is related to everyone and everything on this planet. We have to collaborate and give our commitments to address our common threat, the climate change, before it is too late.
Written by Elaine
On 12 December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted. That day might be a wonderful day for some people, but might not for others. It certainly is not easy for 196 countries to come together and have a common agreement that everyone will adopt, compromise will surely needed.
