Title: The power-play within the UNFCCC groupings – Current and Historically
Training Brief: International negotiations are never easy, with many interests, historical perspectives, economic muscles and many more to consider. How does such power-play affects the on-going negotiations in UNFCCC?
Dr.Gary William Theseira is the Deputy Undersecretary of Environment Management and Climate Change Division Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. He is responsible for policy analysis, development and support for environment management and climate change and sustainable development.
Environmental Management and Climate Change (PASPI)
#MYD Training Series – Training on UNFCCC negotiations and media work with various climate experts, government bodies and civil society leaders, from July until Nov 2015. Each sessions will run for 2 hours and will be broadcast live on Google Hangout. Hangout will be available on YouTube for future reference.
#MYD – Malaysian Youth Delegation – Malaysian youth climate movement at international United Nations climate conferences, UNFCCC, participants will be mentored and hold engagements with various climate expert bodies and dialogue with Malaysian policy makers and negotiators.
Two months ago, we have recruited and formed the ‘Malaysian Youth Delegation – MYD’ to the upcoming UNFCCC COP21 in Paris end of this year. To find out who they are, click here. #MYD15
Besides aggressively fundraising for the flight and cost, MYD is going through avigorous training regime. The delegation’s tasks include researching and producing informative articles, participating in a ‘mock’ policy negotiation and conducting series of trainings.
One of the strategy of MYD is share the happenings during the COP21 by reporting back to Malaysia. This is done by writing articles, explaining what is happening, to our audience back home. MYD members have to produce monthly articles, part self-learning and part educating our readers. To read their artices and to learn more about UNFCCC, click here.
Getting hands-on or learning on the job, is the best way to soak up experience. MYD have recently participated in a ‘mock’ regional policy statement drafting. After hosting the nationwide online survey, MYD negotiated on behalf of Malaysian youth, upholding our national interest while injecting ambition into the text. It was indeed a fruitful learning experience for all. Read on their journey, click here.
Nothing beats hearing from the experts. MYD Training Series is designed to host climate experts to share on related topics with the youth delegation. The trainers line-up includes, Malaysian negotiators, IPCC scientist, Guardian’s list of top youth climate activist, NGO leaders and media specialist. This training is free and open to the public. To join or see the full list,click here.
At UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris, MYD aims are to:
Represent the youth climate movement of Malaysia
Hold our leaders accountable for their actions and pledges
Pursue justice for those suffering the effects of climate change
Act in solidarity with frontline communities in Malaysia & across the globe
Seek solutions to one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced
The structure of the campaign and delegation will be in three primary tracks:
Media: maintain our online social media presence, craft MYD newsletter during COP, write press release template, pitch delegation stories to larger media outlets, track media hits
Mobilization: train delegates for how to plan actions in the UN Space, coordinate with other action planning hubs,
Advocacy: tracking policy development in the UNFCCC, train delegates in advocacy aspects of the UNFCCC and the MYD support strategic policy engagements for the delegation through lobbying and other associated efforts.
Leading up to COP21 we’ll have members of the delegation, who are experienced in fundraising, support others through the process of personal fundraising. If you have more questions or concerns about the financial aspect of COP21, please feel free to reach out to us (powershiftmsia [at] gmail.com).
MYD survived ASEAN Power Shift. We had grown tremendously throughout the past 3 days. Policy track was no child’s play. It was a bitch, and still is. We listened, we struggled, we argued, but we eventually compromised.
MYD Family after many tribulations
It was amazing how things worked out within the MYD team. Adding to the fact that nine of us (MYD) did not know each other prior to the conference. We got lost, we fell, we questioned, but we reintegrated. It was exciting to see how our passion to stop climate change drove us through these challenges working together.
Other delegates may perceived us as strong and well prepared, but we are still learning and fragile human too. Our team almost broke down and scattered by the second night.
Despite all the cracks and disagreement within the team, we moved on, as a team. We knew that it is not only about the paper, it is the people, the bond that existed. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t the best result we expected, but the process was priceless.
Team meeting over tea time
It was those little moment that mattered. Waking up early for shrub planting, staying up for endless meetings and homework deadlines, hanging out at Floor 14 and food courts, short interviews with other ASEAN delegates and participants, photo shooting all the time.
It was the little element added by each members that counted. Adrian, the demanding mentor; Amalen, the joker plus shameless promoter; Emily, the happy-go-lucky optimist; Jolene, the green beauty pageant; Merryn, the epic quote-producer; Rachel, the pure and innocent paper; Roxanne, the powerful and ambitious artist; Shak, the fun-seeking explorer ;Thomas, the back office fighter; Wanji, the funny conservation biologist.
APS was short and sweet. It gave us many new insights, new expectations and new motivation. It taught us how to be open-minded by placing ourselves in the shoes of others. It taught us to hold on to our stand and beliefs. It taught us the power of people, power of collaboration, power of synchronization.
Our MYD’s journey does not stop here, in fact, it just began. We are still fighting hard to get on the road to Paris. Just like APS, it will not be easy for sure. But it will be priceless.
#MYD15 – Malaysian Youth Delegation – Malaysian youth climate movement at international United Nations climate conferences, UNFCCC, participants will be mentored and hold engagements with various climate expert bodies and dialogue with Malaysian policy makers and negotiators.
#ASEANPOWERSHIFT – A conference gathering youths from 10 ASEAN countries with the focus on finding pragmatic and possible solutions to tackle climate change and empower youths with creative skills and knowledge to initiate their own actions.
Being in the policy track removed layers and layers of presumptions that I had. I see, feel, and understand better the importance of youth coming together in creating action, because the existence of this group in bridging the gap of those suffering and those who are fighting for a stand.
Merryn Chong in action
While delegates were busy fighting to make a stand for respective countries, some were unable to make their voices heard which are often those who are most affected by climate change. In fact, there are also those in the room who could not voice out their opinion because of a lower proficiency in English. It suddenly came to me that aside from differences in nationality, there are so many other social problems and political issues inter-connected in this bigger picture that makes finding a solution for climate change even harder and complex.
I particularly like the metaphor “culture as an onion.” Onions, like cultures, come in different shapes and varieties; the color of the core permeates each layer. If one is not skilled at slicing and peeling an onion, it can cause eye irritation and bring tears to the eye. Similarly, when crossing borders and cultures, we must learn the skills of bridging culture and become culturally sensitive in order to better facilitate negotiation. I must admit that this “eye irritation” did happen during our discussion and meetings. The entire policy track negotiation was not an easy process, even when we acknowledge the different parties’ interests and concerns.
During the short duration of this conference, it has opened up my eyes to more climate change issues and solutions going on in ASEAN region. There is definitely still a lot more for me to learn and improve in this aspect. I often feel handicapped in formulating a statement because there are so many aspects that inter-links with the topic discussed, which I still lack sufficient understanding.
We learned to listen and see things from a different set of eyes – Merryn
When I look back, one heart warming thing is is, I think I have found a new family, a family who consist of brothers and sisters from different parts of Malaysia that shares the same passion and vision. They have given me constructive criticism, support and advice before and throughout the entire ASEAN Power Shift in Singapore. I am grateful for the people I met, the knowledge gained in knowledge track, the invaluable experience in policy negotiation, the homework assigned that pushed me in getting interviews done, and the late night meetings that bond us closer together. These three days has definitely opened my eyes to greater possibilities in the future.
#MYD15 – Malaysian Youth Delegation – Malaysian youth climate movement at international United Nations climate conferences, UNFCCC, participants will be mentored and hold engagements with various climate expert bodies and dialogue with Malaysian policy makers and negotiators.
#ASEANPOWERSHIFT – A conference gathering youths from 10 ASEAN countries with the focus on finding pragmatic and possible solutions to tackle climate change and empower youths with creative skills and knowledge to initiate their own actions.
The last three days flew by so quickly. I somehow wish that we could have had more time to spend with each other, among ourselves (MYD) as well as the other delegates from other ASEAN countries. As I reflect upon the days spent at APS, I am not sure if I achieved the things that I am supposed to achieve.
From left : Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Thailand.
To begin, the organizer gave away very little in regards to the activities that awaited the delegates in policy track. All we knew that we had to prepare a National Position Paper. However, the purpose of the gathered data was very much unknown. Another reason is because I tend to not place expectation on things simply to avoid having disappointment. Therefore, if I went there without having an idea what I am set out to achieve, it was difficult to say that I managed to achieve something at the end of the APS.
Despite having said that, into the second day of the conference, I decided for myself to give collaboration to complete the Position Paper. Although I noticed many limitations that underline the Position Paper, such as, the time constrain, language barrier, imbalance participation from the ten countries, lack of necessary knowledge and skills, I disagree with not putting the effort to contribute to the entire discussion and have a negative and pessimistic view about the Position Paper that we tried to produce. To me, not only it would be very discouraging to the enthusiastic vibe that was felt within the room filled with passionate delegates, it may be a loss of an opportunity to learn something during the process.
Then again, some can disagree to my perception whereby since the Position Paper would not be a success (which may be defined as not representative of all youths in 10 countries, not substantial, not contextual…), perhaps the focus should have been driven towards building strong network with other delegates, finding possible collaboration in future projects, understanding each other’s situation.
Team Malaysia and MYD
In the end, due to limited time, we were not successful in producing a proper position paper. But something that we were able to achieve was the have a rather strong Preamble which some say is the most important part of the whole position paper. Although it was not a huge success, I still feel that I did achieve something.
I not only learned about the process of making policies (perhaps not exactly like the actual thing), but through the process of coming up the various policies, I learned about the situation and problems faced by my neighbouring countries in the region. It was truly an enlightening experience for me.
Most importantly, this experience allowed me to get to know my MYD members, to agree and disagree, to work together despite our differences. This was not something I set out to do, but I still eventually did, which is very valuable. Even though I cannot list down everything that I have learned from APS, but I believe that I have unconsciously learned many things, which I will realize in the future. At the moment, I know that I my network have now crossed borders.
To end my reflection, it may be important to know what you are about to do in order to set a clear purpose and target to achieve, but sometimes embracing the unknown can be just as precious for it is filled with surprises. Most of the time, we gain something valuable beyond what we initially set out to do.
#MYD15 – Malaysian Youth Delegation – Malaysian youth climate movement at international United Nations climate conferences, UNFCCC, participants will be mentored and hold engagements with various climate expert bodies and dialogue with Malaysian policy makers and negotiators.
#ASEANPOWERSHIFT – A conference gathering youths from 10 ASEAN countries with the focus on finding pragmatic and possible solutions to tackle climate change and empower youths with creative skills and knowledge to initiate their own actions.
One of the strategy of MYD is share the happenings during the COP21 by reporting back to Malaysia. This is done by writing articles, explaining what is happening, to our audience back home. MYD members have to produce monthly articles, part self-learning and part educating our readers. To read their artices and to learn more about UNFCCC, 
Getting hands-on or learning on the job, is the best way to soak up experience. MYD have recently participated in a ‘mock’ regional policy statement drafting. After hosting the 
Nothing beats hearing from the experts. MYD Training Series is designed to host climate experts to share on related topics with the youth delegation. The trainers line-up includes, Malaysian negotiators, IPCC scientist, Guardian’s list of top youth climate activist, NGO leaders and media specialist. This training is free and open to the public. To join or see the full list,
