Everyone woke up from their comfy little warm beds as early as 6 a.m in the morning, in order to held a group meeting. Sleep is optional, I supposed.
One of my daily routine in Paris, is to check the daily COP21 programme from the UNFCCC website. I would like to call the web site a Bible, because it contains every single piece of updated information regarding COP21. My plan for today is to attend the SB informal consultation on the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with climate change impacts (such a long title right?) and Climate Action Network (CAN) Daily meeting.There is nothing special happening in the SB informal consultation meeting because the agenda for today was to adopt the draft conclusion proposed by the Chairs. There is some disagreements for the draft context, requesting on changing some grammars and checking for inconsistencies. For example, requesting to change the word ENCOURAGE to URGE as it sound more promising and strong. The draft decision was successfully adopted.
I went to the CAN daily meeting afterwards. The security measures were indeed strict as only selected people were allowed to access the meeting venue. I noticed that everyone was wearing a headphone that is provided by COP21. Unfortunately, I chose not to wear and here is where the silly part kicks in. I was tidying up my homework at that moment and I kept hearing mumbles. After a while, everyone was laughing. Now I know why! The soundproof of the room was so poor. In order to prevent information leak, people choose to listen to the content of the meeting through headphone instead of live voices.
Inevitably to say, CAN daily meeting was very informative and organised. I am really impressed. CAN members separate themselves into different working group and excel from it, such as adaptation working group, mitigation working group, etc. Each group will need to report back the the latest negotiation status of the topic they are in charged in. In other words, you will get all the important information in just half an hour or less. How amazing is that? I will suggest the team to integrate this idea into our MYD daily meeting. While heading back to our base in the evening, I saw a family with lots of luggage. They are trying to carry the luggages (at least 5 big XL size luggages) and climb all the way up from the staircase. The father seemed exhausted. Initially I passed by them and there is a sudden thought that stopped me from walking away. I make a “U- turn” and lend them a helping hand. “Thank you very much young boy!” A simple gesture of thanks from them did make me feel delighted. Helping others in need is my pursuit of my happiness.
At night, there was an Asian Meetup. People from China, Taiwan, Nepal, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore were coming for a dinner. All of us went to a Chinese restaurant named WenZhou for dinner which is located at Belliville Chinatown. Apparently there were many shops that use the name WenZhou and, it was kinda confusing. But we managed to gather together and had a wonderful dinner together. After listening to their conversation, I was amazed by their effort in mobilizing and creating action for the youth in combating climate change. Albeit I am not interested in mobilization, I did felt a sudden adrenaline rush flowing in my vine. I was pumped up!
p.s Another highlight of the day was I found my favorite snack in one of the Asian Market.
Written by : Thomas Lai
Edited by: Merryn Choong
Guess whom I met during the Conference of Youth (COY) in Tokyo? It was Roux Nicolas, a student from University of Tokyo. He is currently undertaking a graduate program on Environmental Science. During the first day of COY, he facilitated the ice-breaking session and came up with ground rules for COY11, Tokyo. Find out more about the short interview session with Roux below.
ii) Young press from Global Environmental Forum (GEF)
Hi from Mizuki Okumura. This was the first time Mizuki participated in a conference where youth gather and raise our voices on climate change issues. She is representing an environmental NGO in Japan, Global Environmental Forum (GEF). GEF is a non-profit organization, which focuses on global environmental issues such as deforestation and climate change; raising awareness of local community and make policy recommendations.
As a young intern, planning and researching in GSGES Kyoto University, she is very excited and feels positive about the climate movement especially among youth. She believes youth is powerful and, together we should take action! To her, it was a great experience attending COY 11. Stay tuned with our young journalist as she will be publishing articles on what’s happening in COY 11, Tokyo in GEF.
iii) Biphasa from India I managed to interview one of the volunteers during COY 11, Tokyo – Bipasha Kaur Chatterjee. She is from India and currently studying Social Science (East Asian Relation) at the University of Tokyo. Her friends, who joined the organizing committee invited her to volunteer in this program. She is involved in the communication team and is in charge of note taking. Her homeland is in New Delhi, India. After studying in Japan for two years, she is happy with the policy implemented in Japan, especially waste separation. It has become a cultural for people to separate their waste and everyone practices it. Rivers in Kyoto is clean and nice. She has seen much more polluted rivers in India.
In India, there are many environmental issues such as water pollution, air pollution, land destruction, deforestation, etc. There are many existing laws, but it lack implementation and enforcement. One of the interesting phrases she shared with me is “CHIPKO Movement in India”. The meaning of Chipko in Hindi word is “to hug”. It is a big environment protection movement by the local communities especially aborigine people as men, women, children are hugging the tree when the government decided to clear the forest. It was a huge success of people movement to put their lives in the frontline to protect the trees.
She also mentioned that climate change is a big mess which human created since industrialization. Instead of learning from history, we are following the footsteps of developed countries. We are facing climate change in this era and the blaming games should end. We need to deal with this major issue now. In line with COP21, she hopes to see world leaders coming up with concrete solutions in saving our mother earth.
iv)
Glad to meet Akane Ota from Nagoya University. She is studying Environmental Science and doing research in Comparative Analysis of Japan International Cooperation Agency , JICA’s REDD+ projects. It is interesting to know that her research focuses on four different countries, which consists of Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Mozambique. Most of us in ASEAN have heard about Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos but not Mozambique. This is also my first time knowing about Mozambique.
Akane’s research is about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) among the four countries. REDD is one of the topics in Conference of Parties (COP21). It is an effort to conserve and preserve forest through financial support and incentives for developing countries. Four of these countries have tropical climate with two seasons, wet and dry. These countries are vulnerable to climate change and deforestation rate is increasing. REDD+ have been implemented in these countries by working closely with the local government. Institutions are established to improve the system of REDD+. With the continuous support of REDD+ program, it can help to keep forest intact and reduce the concentration of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) into the atmosphere. Let’s protect the forest and implement more REDD+ program in other countries.
v) Participants from China, Li Lin (李琳)
I interviewed Li Lin from China during the last day of COY11. She is currently studying International Political and Economics in Peking University. Besides studying, she is also a volunteer in OXFAM Hong Kong , an NGO which focus on the power of people against poverty.
OXFAM is a global organization which can be found in countries such as the United States of America, Germany, Japan, Sweden, etc. OXFAM Hong Kong shared the event of COY 11, Tokyo in the mobile application, What’s App. She finds COY an interesting event and there you go, Li Lin in COY 11, Tokyo!
Li Lin shared her concerns on the interrelation between Climate Change and Poverty. In China, there is a huge gap between the poor and the wealthy. Those suffering from the impact of climate change are farmers from rural areas. Even though China is developing rapidly, 50% of the people are depending on agriculture as a living source. The government has taken steps to reduce poverty level among farmers through farmer tax reduction, providing basic facilities, building proper irrigation, etc.
However, the direct impact of climate change such as floods and drought make it difficult for the government to help the poor. Compare to western countries, the agriculture industry in China is still lacking behind in terms of technology. There is a lot of improvement needed for environmental protection by the government. The environmental impact is not as major concern of government as compared to others when comes to economic development.
OXFAM Hong Kong also focuses on research related to precision poverty alleviation, which involve community and NGOs to provide recommendations to government. In line with COP21, OXFAM supports a story telling contest organized by United National Development Program (UNDP). It is called the Voice2ParisGlobal Storytelling Contest. It is available in English and Mandarin. Winner of the contest stands a chance to attend COP21, PARIS. Let’s have a look at video below on Li Lin’s video during COY 11, Tokyo.
SPEECH BY
HE DATO SRI DR WAN JUNAIDI TUANKU JAAFAR
HONOURABLE MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT MALAYSIA
FOR
JOINT HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT OF COP21/ CMP11
7-11 DECEMBER 2015
Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to convey our profound condolences to the people of France on the recent attacks and to express our solidarity and support in these difficult and challenging times. I would also like to take this opportunity to convey my sincere appreciation to the people of France for their warm hospitality and excellent arrangements.
In 2009 The Right Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that Malaysia had adopted a voluntary indicator to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions intensity of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by up to 40 per cent compared to 2005 intensity levels by 2020, conditional on receiving finance, technology transfer and capacity building from developed countries. Malaysia had incorporated measures to address the issues of climate change, environmental degradation and sustainable utilisation of natural resources under the Tenth Malaysia Plan for the period 2011-2015. This Plan had resulted in Malaysia achieving a 33 per cent reduction in emissions intensity of GDP by 2013. During this time the energy sector has been the major contributor to national GHG emissions. The sector was prioritized for mitigation action and saw the introduction of the Renewable Energy Policy and the Renewable Energy Act in 2011. The policy and Act enabled the launching of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism to accelerate renewable energy (RE) growth in Malaysia.
The effort will be continued under the Eleventh Malaysia Plan 2016-2020 under the Green Growth Agenda. This agenda calls for strengthening the enabling environment, including policy and regulatory frameworks, human capital and green technology. In addition, investment and financial instruments will be further strengthened. The Green Growth Agenda takes a broad approach that includes conserving our biodiversity. I would like to highlight that Malaysia’s forest cover to date stands at 54.5 per cent. Here we reaffirm our commitment to maintain at least 50% level of forest and tree cover in perpetuity through “zero net deforestation and degradation” thus halting net forest loss by deforestation and stopping net decline in forest quality. This would be achieved by reforestation and enrichment of degraded lands to increase carbon sequestration and mitigate climate change effects.
This can be achieved more effectively through expanding the forest reserves and protected areas under the Heart of Borneo and the Central Forest Spine Initiatives. Currently, we have identified about 144 thousand hectares of land area that can be restored in the Central Forest Spine and 6 million hectares in the Heart of Borneo. Additionally, Malaysia has also implemented REDD+ which saw an estimated total of 97.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided through improved forest management for the period 2006 to 2010. However, our financial, technical and capacity limitations among others, can hinder our progress and efforts to manage and conserve these natural resources. In this regard, external funding can offer viable solutions.
Malaysia too is very concerned about adaptation. Programmes on flood mitigation alone have accounted for more than MYR9.3 billion in spending in the 9th and 10th Malaysia Plans. Further funding is required for the implementation of mitigation programmes from 2016 onwards. At the same time, Malaysia has developed action plans to enhance water security under the National Water Resources Policy that also needs to be implemented.
DATO SRI DR WAN JUNAIDI TUANKU JAAFAR
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Malaysia has demonstrated its commitment in addressing climate change. We would like to urge developed countries to fulfil their obligations as stipulated under the Convention which includes the COP16 decision that developing countries should receive financial resources. This obligation encompasses providing means of implementation, including technology transfer and capacity building for developing countries. Malaysia supports the centrality of the UNFCCC, the importance of equity and transparency as well as the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR). Malaysia looks forward to the adoption of a fair and balanced agreement and urge all Parties to undertake ambitious emission reduction targets for our future generations.
Thelma Krug, Vice-Chair of Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)
“In terms of what to do for climate change – the threats for now and in the future; we need transformation that combine adaptation and mitigation plans to realize the goal of sustainable development.” – Thelma Krug, Vice-Chair of Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).
Based on the latest assessment of IPCC, 4 pathways are lined-up where [2°C] [or] [1.5°C] is a level that is agreed in the drafted Paris outcome as a long term target. Moving to this pathway will require reducing substantial emissions in all sectors as well as adaptation plans that are strengthened via top-down and bottom-up approach. The importance of including local and indigenous knowledge are being highlighted several times on today’s high-level plenary at Global Landscape Forum. According to Thelma Krug, moderating the impact of climate change requires strong scientific backups and technologies as well as to include local and indigenous knowledge. IPCC recognizes their limitation to facilitate this issue owing to information deficiency from developing countries on climate change and hence many works in many directions are required to fill the gaps; to produce regional and localized mitigation / adaptation plans with broad perspectives.
The plenary also highlighted the importance of political and social supports in climate policy. Governor of California, Jerry Brown commented the need of understanding, new tools and techniques with new way of living. “We have a lot of issues and climate change is a problem that can’t be put away for too long. 2 degree centigrade with 50% stability, is a lot of uncertainties. Therefore, we need science, we need holistic science that teach us to see community, environment and ecology that are closer to reality. We need a new way of thinking and sensitivity”. says Governor Brown.
In my opinion, I agreed with Thelma’s and Governor Brown’s statement of the need of holistic view. We need to realize that science is not the only thing we need to consider when it comes to resolve climate issue. Climate is a social issue. This is because, we design our own communities and our neighbourhood. We define what landscapes are in our own terms. For instance, common society view “less valued” land as the furthest land from the city. These “less valued” land are lands where improvement can be made easily but building where people are with greater density is difficult. Yet, we should never forget the scientific knowledge of climate change. These valuable knowledges will lead us to live in harmony with our mother earth. A balance living is in need as we are literally heading to an extreme end right now.
“It is just the beginning , it is a long slot . Don’t work too hard but keep going.” – Governor Brown.
Written by: Jolene Journe T.
Edited by: Merryn Choong
Yes, this time I didn’t let the opportunity slip away.
Elaine See (MYD15) addressing the SBSTA Closing Plenary during #COP21
Fearing the pain of remorse, I forced myself to grab the intervention-given the chance when Adrian told us, that the Climate Action Network needed a female representative to deliver the speech. I was overwhelmed by the fear that my English was not good enough; paralyzed by my own hesitation and doubt to deliver a one-minute speech. However, this experience proved me wrong! Coming to the end of it, I can say it is not about asking whether I can, but how bad I want it!
When I got my intervention script and started to practice, challenges struke, and my excitement transformed into nervousness. Being tongue-tied and slow at first (need to speed up so that I can finish the intervention in one minute), I continued to practice relentlessly. “This is my only choice”, I thought to myself.
Things didn’t go smoothly ( It never seems to). When I was able to read the script nice and fluent, I began to feel a discomfort in my throat. The SBSTA closing plenary was then delayed from 4.30pm to 7pm, 8pm, and then further to 9pm. I was actually on the verge of relinquishing my task.
However, I was pumped up when I imagined myself appearing on the 4 big screens in the big plenary hall and being heard by the Parties and the Chair. Opportunity to talk at the plenary is something that many civil society members are hoping for, especially the youth, because chances of them being heard and being recognized by the convention are comparatively rare.
My heart thumped so fast, almost jumping out of my chest, when it was my turn to give the speech! But it was such an amazing experience. I am extremely grateful to have great support from Adrian and my team. Words cannot express my indebtedness and gratitude to them for all the love, support and motivation. I wish one day I can have a deeper insight on the plenaries so I can draft the whole script on my own and present it.
Written By: Elaine See
Edited By: Merryn Choong
Full Text
Thank you Madam Chair,
I am Elaine See from Climate Action Network.
Responding to the climate crisis requires decisive action across all sectors.
But the Subsidiary Body of Science and Technological Advice (SBSTA) reports presentations demonstrate that International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are failing to address the significant climate impacts of aviation and shipping.
18 years after Kyoto, these emissions are growing at a rate twice that of all other sectors. The Paris Agreement must send a clear signal that ICAO and IMO must make a fair contribution to limiting temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
On agriculture, CAN appreciates Parties’ positive engagement in Paris.
Parties should evaluate methodologies to ensure on-the-ground results while including considerations and safeguards to protect and promote food security, biodiversity, equitable access to resources, the right to food, animal welfare, and the rights of indigenous peoples and local populations, while promoting poverty reduction and adaptation.
Ongoing efforts to ensure sufficient finance for adaptation and for a Global Goal on Adaptation should also be supported.
We request SBSTA to help identify options to enhance food security to protect the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.
