[30th November 2015, Le Bourget Paris] It is a new start and a new hope to many when 150 heads of state each presented 3 minutes of their country’s statement at “La Loire” Plenary. The statements are presented in support of forming a universal agreement on climate that aims to limit the increase of average global temperature to below 2°C.
157 out of 183 INDCs were submitted as of 1st December 2015 and that covers up to 97.9% of the global emissions. There is a significant gap between developed and developing countries to reach a consensus on combating climate change especially in the areas of capacity building, finance, equity, technology transfer, mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. Hence, there is a need of establishing this Paris agreement where differentiation in equity and responsibility are considered in these areas.
Here are some interesting statements made by several Heads of State that I have jotted down:-
Deep condolences to Paris. 50% of our countries are covered by forest. However we are deforesting the tropics. Because of hurricane, we lost 25% of our GDP we also lost 7,000 human lives. Today, El Nino and El Nina show that Climate Change is not an environmental issues but also a hard economic migration. Climate Change is a life and death issue. Due to droughts, we lost many pine forests that bring plague and emergency food aid to 275,000 people who experienced the effect of Climate Change.
“The figures don’t add up. Do you think we are equally responsible? We are not. As far the causes and effects are our concern, we are not equally responsible. It is not clearly defined.”
Our commitment as Honduras is this, we will still reduce our emissions by 50%. In the course of two years our Renewable Energy should increase from 30% to 55%. We want to reduce household wood consumption.
We appeal to the country’s and corporates that emit the most CO2: How much money do you need to satisfy your greed? Enough is enough, Honduras has suffered from your doing.
We need to look into [REDD+] and [Warsaw Loss and Damage] mechanism aspects. We need to implement CBDR and support adaptation. All these must be legally binding. Global temperature should NOT increase more than 1.5 degree celsius. There is no Earth B. We need to ACT NOW.
Switzerland is also directly affected by climate change. Climate change pose a significant threat to Switzerland. We need to limit the increase of global temperature below 2ºC and boost all countries resilient against Climate Change. Paris provides us the opportunity to produce global climate agreement. agreement that requires to be equal, having common rules that will reunite all nations moving towards low carbon societies.
Switzerland supports INDC and 5 years cycle. Climate finance, it is essential. Support countries in need is crucial. We must provide supports to countries who need it. Switzerland announce our intend to reduce 50% of greenhouse emissions based on 1999 by 2030 with the help of international mechanism and standard.
Furthermore, Switzerland more than tripled its public climate finance between 2009 and 2014, and remains committed to mobilising its fair share of the targeted USD 100 billion per year by 2020. Switzerland believes that support for adaptation is important, particularly in the most vulnerable countries. Therefore we have allocated over 50 percent of our climate finance to adaptation.
Switzerland will formalise its entire pledge of USD 100 million to the Green Climate Fund by the end of January 2016 at the latest, and has already made its first contribution. We strongly urge other Parties to do the same. Support for the countries most in need is crucial. Therefore, Switzerland will also increase its annual contribution to the Least Developed Countries Fund by 75 percent and provide USD 6.25 million by 2018.
The UN are firmly to tackle global issues in global angle. We need to tackle all together. Andorra is a small country. We understand we need to think globally and act locally. Andorra income comes from Eco-Tourism, from snow and all. Climate Change causes less rainfall and more melting ice.
We are now focusing on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Our schools are relying on solar and hydraulic energy which encompasses 10% of our GDP. The government is committed itself to its mobility program, adoption of electric vehicles. Now (as of 2015), 50% of our cars are electric cars. We plan to reduce our carbon emissions by 37% by 2030.
Andorra is a small country, therefore, we as a small country, we have limited capacity. Andorra wants to be part of Climate Change solution.
“To conclude, if in Paris, we postpone solution, it will be too late. Paris is today, the world is looking to us and the future generation is expecting more of us. We cannot disappoint them”
Climate change just like terrorism knows no border. Algeria been facing terrorism for many years. Climate Change is one of the causes of cross-border crime. During our time in Durban at South Africa, we agreed at Paris we will adopt binding agreement on Climate Change, keeping global temperature below its dangerous margin.
There is no plan B. We have no planet B. Algeria is anxious. Once again, reiterate its determination, to ensure international agreement rooted in fairness today and future, Algeria submitted INDC which reflects their commitment, energy transition based on clean energy including Renewable Energy. Algeria, which has considerable Renewable Energy stocks via development over the last few years, it is also future focused decision, well thought industrial plan. Algeria look forward to work with you to mitigate and adapt Climate Change. Let us make sure here in Paris, we adopt the necessary decision to put an end to this planetary disaster.
One day receives rain of 14 years. We have experience highest temperature ever. We have low emissions already. Climate change is not an environmental problem but a social issue and perhaps is the political issues that will gather us to work together for the next few years. We recognize Climate Change is a global issues. We have lengthy coastal that require protection in order to protect largest marine in the world. We also actively invite you to come over and support conservation of marine. We look forward to ambitious, differentiated, transparent and complete binding agreement at Paris COP21.
Christine Figueres: Paris is the city of light. Paris is the beacon of hope to the world, lighting its way to better humanity.
Before the commencement of the Leader’s event. Christine Figueres, executive secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) presented a short speech saying “at Paris, we must capable of standing in solidarity as the eyes of the world are on us. Not figuratively but literally. We must come together in combating climate change and to support developing world in poverty eradication, capture the problem with agreeable milestones and predictable outcomes.” She further highlighted Paris as the city of light. Positively she believes Paris is the beacon of hope to the world, lighting its way to better humanity.
It is my first time at COP but I believe this year would be different. I hope to be able to be part of this golden moment to witness the adoption of Paris Agreement that is workable for both developed and developing countries.
It is a bright shiny slightly warm day for me. Well, it is warmer than most of the winter days in Paris and MYD members are heading off to a parallel event of COP21. We walked down to the street of Jaurès.
Apparently, the parallel event I am heading to is known as Paris de L’avenir. It means “The Future of Paris” We are here. Landing at the space of future Paris where green technologies and innovations were introduced in response to climate change. Sometimes I wonder, who decides the future? We decide for ourselves but what about mother nature we are living in? She does and we just have to adapt to her change. As we learned climate change is real from the past decades of research and discoveries, we need to adapt to her change by using alternative measures to survive her catastrophic wrath.
So, it was a long stretched of exhibitions along the river. I will share with you four interesting green technologies (supposedly in harmonious with our mother nature) that intrigued me.
Electric, Autonomous and Connected Mobility – VEDECOM is an electric and autonomous vehicle focus company focuses on two main objectives of energetic transition: energy storage and mobility for everyone. The vehicle provide new services, development while respecting security issues. Powering household appliances by capturing energy during peak energy consumption.
Dual Energy Solar Tracker – The dual energy solar tracker IDCmem is a mirror hub with heat exchange feature to produce hot water and photovoltaic panels for electricity production.
Recycled Materials for Development – Marbre d’ici is a new concrete made with locally collected and recycled rubble. Crushed and mixed with cement demolition and building-site waste are transformed into a new raw material to be used in the construction of public space, interior and object design and architecture. Marbre d’ici is also a perfect vehicle for participatory projects in which professionals and local residents get to work together on the transformation of their city.
Waterless Toilet in Town Centers – ECOSEC is a waterless toilet that helps to conserve “a third of domestic water consumption that are used for toilet flushing” and global phosphorus supplies that shrink rapidly via converting their waste into hygienic fertilizer! The waste water will be recycled and reused while the urine will be injected deep down 20 cm of the soil to accelerate breakdown of the waste into compost.
So my name is Amalen from the Malaysian Youth Delegation, MYD and I am currently attending the Conference of Youth 11, COY11 in Paris.
I got here a day earlier than the rest of my team and being here on the first day in the morning was simply overwhelming. We didn’t have access to the full program before this morning (26th Nov) but looking at it for the first time I simply felt swamped, confused and mostly just overwhelmed.
Floor Plan at COY11
There were so many different events going on in that single space. There we hundreds and thousands of people there. Me being alone I didn’t really know what to do at first, I texted my mentor and friends and sadly didn’t get a direct response due to time differences but I just decided that I need to stop feeling this way and carry on. So that’s what I did. I sifted through all the activities and events for the day and planned out my schedule so that I could attend all the sessions I wanted to. It took me awhile to shake off this overwhelming feeling but just focusing on the events I had to attend helped me get through it better.
COY Manifesto Session
For most of the day I was stuck at the COY manifesto sessions. These sessions seemed more familiar as I have previously been involved in a similar process during ASEAN Power Shift 2015. During these sessions, they talked about the youth manifesto which has been worked on for the past 2 weeks by a host of different people using data that they had gathered via email surveys to youths that registered for COY, and believe me that is a large number. This final sessions were more of a finalizing session, to ask us, the youth, if we agree on what they have made, do we want it worded differently or certain thing added or removed etc.
During these sessions, I realized that youth voices from South East Asia or East Asia for that fact are rarely heard. The number of Asians at the conference were not that numerous and trying to find another Malaysian there seemed almost impossible. I took this as a challenge, I should voice out my opinion, I should say something when I agree or disagree, let my voice be heard!
And true enough, my voice was heard and more than that it was taken into account, it was considered a very good point. That just gave me a big boost of confidence to continue to speak up throughout my time here.
“Make It Real” Session
I attended a workshop by a group called ‘Make it Real’. They had previously done COP simulations with different mechanisms to UNFCCC. Their new hypothesis and ideas really sparked an interest to me. They were trying to make the process of UNFCCC much more easier, more better and simply more efficient. These were youth who decided to work with their negotiators, gather data and evidence and work closely together. Hopefully this is something we the MYD can do with our negotiators after COP21.
Sustaina Claus – 3 Fingers Selfie
I also met an interesting chap called Sustaina Claus, the sustainable Santa Claus-turning Christmas green, haha. He taught me something very interesting, he took a picture with me and told me to put up 3 fingers. I just did it and it was a rather funny thing but after asking why I found out he had his own little movement going, society, environment and economy in balance- to create a sustainable balance between these 3 groups, and the fact I can tell what it meant and what it’s about is all because he put up something random and it made me ask. Sometimes it’s all about doing and letting human curiosity take course.
Towards the end of the day I felt ecstatic to the fact I reached home without realizing I hadn’t eaten dinner. It was an amazing first day and there is so much more I would like to share but alas sleep shall take over me now.
I have been looped into involvement for a session during tomorrow’s program-Asia region meet up and discussion. I hope I do well. Doing things on a whole new scale is definitely scary but I’ll give it a try and hope for the best. Hopefully meeting all the different people and conversing with them about different ideas and projects will help bolster my confidence for tomorrow.
While I was in Paris for COP21 I had the opportunity to speak at the 4th International Eco-Schools Conference (IESC). It was held in Shah Alam, Malaysia. We had to do it online via Google Hangouts Video Conferencing. I was planning to do it from the conference area but the internet connection at COP21 was really bad at that time so I decided to head home for a more stable connection.
The whole time I was heading home I felt nervous. I’ve never given a talk to people on this scale and it’s not like I’m just talking about myself or anything, I’m going to be giving my opinion on climate change and what exactly the whole COP process is. To take my opinion and ask me for facts on issues like this, it really blew my ego sky high (laughter), made me feel all important. Thanks to Adrian Yeo, fellow Malaysian @ COP21, who was also in this session, I had my ego bubble popped by the way he presented which completely showed the difference in our experience. It was my first time and I’d really enjoyed it.
Our styles of explanation and delivery were so different. I was too spontaneous and random in my thoughts and explanations whereas Adrian had a more organized and calm approach. I feel I need to learn to do this better to help prevent any miscommunication as well as to help ensure the message is delivered in the best possible manner. Maybe what I need is just more practice, who knows with all the numerous events and media moments MYD has, maybe I’ll get better if I keep these self improvement goals in mind.
While doing the interview, I felt something wonderful – all these students who are passionate about the environment so eagerly asking me questions. The passion from these young people really made me feel hopeful, it brought joy to my heart seeing that there are so many students that know about these environmental issues and want to do something about it.
When I was in school I never had this support, I was always alone in my passion for the environment. Moving forward, I want to be someone these students can look up to, someone that can help shape and guide the generation of tomorrow. Someone I needed when I was younger to show me the way. But to do that, I have to continue developing myself and doing good work wherever and however I can.
Thanks again WWF Malaysia for including me in this awesome experience .
Before the Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD) arrived in Paris, we only managed to secure a half yellow badges, second week only, before we departed. Hence, most of the MYD’s plans were occupied by the parallel events that does not require accreditation to enter, in simple words, open to public.
However, after we luckily get full badges for everyone (we only receive the good news when we reached Paris), many of us neglected the side events outside of the Parc des Expositions (COP21 venue) because we already have tons of events available in COP21 itself.
Nonetheless, I have tried exploring two renowned zones outside of the COP21- Climate Generation Zone (Green Zone) and Climate Action Zone (ZAC).
Climate Generation Zone
The first time I enter the green zone was to pass Winnie, Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS)’s brochures. The first impression that I had for it was “as colourful as a circus”. I visited the Climate Generation Zone several times after that, mainly to have meetings and to be interviewed by Scott and Miranda (our friend from University of Northwestern who have tracked and filmed the MYD for the first week). The green zone is much more lively than the blue zone (COP21 venue) because it was decorated with fancy chairs and booths, packed with people in different customes (indigenous people’s traditional outfits, clown customes etc) and filled with energetic chants from the actions. Although I did not really visited every single booth in the zone, I spent some quality time with my group member Amalen walking, or running, around the booths there. What I observed from the booth is how they attract their audiences with their booth design, interactive machines and impressive brochure layout. The most memorable ones are the Juice Bar which generates power from bicycle dynamo and a booth made by paper boxes!
Climate Action Zone
I have been to this zone for only once, but the climate activism spirit stroke me so hard that I can still hear the loud cheer now. It is so different from what I’ve expected. I was expecting it to be packed with only a hundred people- some drawing banners, some visiting the exhibition and some joining a talk- a formal hall with chairs like how it was inside COP21 and a participant age range of 15-50. I was surprised to see more than two thousand people sitting on the ground, cheering as they listened to an arousing talk by climate activist. The atmosphere was extremely hyper and influential over there. As I could not find a place to even sit on the floor, I’ve stood to take note of the seminar that I intended to join, titled “Capitalism Against Climate: How Free Trade Agreements Undermine Climate Actions”.
The most surprising part was that the is a significant number of senior citizen in the crowd; they were cheering and clapping together with the youths. They were not there as a pass-byer, they were with their pens and notebooks – they were there to join the movement! Maybe the culture of elderly joining movements is not popular in Asia. I found this very interesting.
I actually missed some other happening places like the YOUNGO Art Space and the Place-to-B. I’m definitely very regretful about that but I’m glad that I did hopped into the two zones that I shared with you. These places reminded me that I’m not alone and recharged me so much after I drained my energy in the comparatively dull Parc des Expositions!
