It is finally Saturday! Yet another day of COP21 has gone but even as things are coming to a close, a lot of matters are not coming to a conclusion. There are still so much to do and the hype is being overplayed.
The whole of yesterday was spent hashing out the new COP Text that was released on the previous day, on the 10th of December. This text had a lot of missing key issues such as intergenerational equity (a key point pushed by YOUNGO) and indigenous people’s rights (even though the topic on human rights was included). Discussions touching upon the importance of these missing key issues went on late until night.
Today, the moment of truth has finally arrived (or so we thought). However, delays are ever imminent. The initial proposed time for the release of the text was supposed to be at 8 AM but when the clock struck 9 AM, there was still no news. Time was going by fast and slow simultaneously – one moment we looked at the clock it was 10 AM, and then it was 11.30 AM, and now even as it passed 1.30 PM, the text is yet to be released. At exactly 1.33 PM, they announced that the text was released online. Everyone hurriedly checked online, but the text wasn’t to be found. A delegate from South Africa, Neoka Naidu, frustrated with the pain of the waiting game, was heard saying, “Why do they send us mixed signals? This is worst than a relationship!”
People waiting for the release of the finalised Agreement (the COP Text)
And a mere 2 minutes after that false alarm, at exactly 1.35 PM, the website crashed!
While waiting for the release, the website crashed, frustrating the crowd.
At 1.36 PM the text was finally released online but the hard copy was still unavailable to the public. The line to acquire the hard copy of the text was unbelievably long.
This morning at the Comité de Paris, Mr. Laurent Fabius, the Foreign Minister of the French Republic and the President of COP, mentioned that a deal was already made, and that it was a good one. He made it seem as if everyone was happy about this fact but the reality was far from it as parties have not even seen the text that was deemed agreed by everyone present. Fabius couldn’t be making the decision on his own as this is something that needs to be decided by all parties involved. In my opinion, he is anything but a President of COP.
I found that the speech link which was released and uploaded at the “WEBCAST” section was a bit out of place too. Let’s hope it was just a technical glitch, nothing more.
At 3.30 PM, the parties are to reconvene after going through the document rigorously and if more time is needed they will push for more time.
After having reconvened, the parties will have one more round of negotiation before the Closing Ceremony tonight. Personally, I didn’t think it will end today especially after listening to analyses about the text and reading through it. It may appear like the outcome will be a positive one, but there are still parts that are not wanted seen in the core agreement such as certain commitments for pre-2020.
“We’re cautiously optimistic because the ultimate proof lies in the text. The complete text has not be seen by the parties. We’ve been shown key areas and the key areas seem to contain what we need and we need to see it as a whole before we can applause it. We can’t adopt it till we’ve seen it.”
Dr Gary of the Malaysian Negotiator
The energy was intense – it was insanely busy and chaotic with so many people looking enraged, happy, and sad. It’s a flurry of emotions. Looking around and looking back, I can completely understand why they feel this way. These past 2 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. This morning’s speech at the Comité de Paris brought up so much hype for the COP Text which has now gotten everyone on edge. There are still so much that needs to be done.
This is it for now from us on the ground, we will see how it goes as the day progresses. Hopefully the situation will turn out for the better. With strong conviction, we’ll receive a more positive and holistically effective outcome for the COP Text (Adoption of the Paris Agreement).
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
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
Paris. A trip which many are looking forward to. To travel, to explore and… to fall in love. Fall in love with the city, people, culture, fashion, food… and? Well, I am looking forward to the upcoming COP21 at Paris that is to be held on 30th November 2015.
Before every COP, an annual youth conference will be held annually. This culture has been going on since 2009 where young attendees of the world get the opportunity to gather, to share, explore, experience and grow together towards a global smart climate community.
This year, the 11th Conference of Youth (COY11) is one of the largest ever held where the event was graced by 5000 other young attendees around the globe at Parc des Expositions de Villepinte. There are many workshops, conferences, debates, and forum occurred concurrently throughout the 3 days from 26th November 2015 to 28th November 2015. The message of the COY 11 is to show that young people are able to mobilize. They are important actors of change and leaders of tomorrow where, they are able to convey concrete solutions to combat climate change together. Majority of the people come with this objective in mind, “to imagine and create the society of tomorrow”.
One of the highlights in COY is their “Make It Real” program as it is an open innovation track where young people get the opportunity to explore, to convey their dreams and visions into practical solutions to make a better society. For me, words such as creativity, visions and dreams are keys to bring humanity one step forward. If you ask me, to be better or worse? I do not know. Perhaps, James Diamond study on “How Societies Collapse” has the answer for this.
Nonetheless, this year is also the first experience for Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD) team to explore COY11. In my opinion, the experience is enriching especially having one of our team member “Amalen” to co-organized a brief Asian meetup session with at least 30 enthusiastic Asian Youth at COY! These energetic young Asian leaders are here – to share and engage with one another, to express their environmental initiatives they have back home. For instance, we have Kai from China, who does global research on bees; Mia from Indonesia – who focuses on youth climate action at COP and Bhaskar Padigala from India, whom had done an amazing work on researching available renewable energy technologies that are applicable to his home country.
Although it is only a day at COY11, it is still an enriching global experience for me. Hopefully, if I am fortunate enough, to explore the next COY in full.
“As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.” -Al Gore
Albert Arnold “Al” Gore, Jr. is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is well known for his work on environmental issues. On December 10, 2007, Al Gore was awarded as a Nobel Prize winner, for his unwavering dedication in combating global warming.
I believe everyone who are involved in climate change or environment activism have heard of his name. Yesterday, I had the privilege to attend a dialogue with Mr. Al Gore, along with other observer organizations. It was a day filled with wisdom, hopes and possibilities.
During his opening speech, he was pleased that the role of civil society in COP21 is the strongest among all the conferences he attended. In fact, the civil society have grown to be more engaged and representative over the years. Al Gore emphasized that it is immoral to continue emitting carbon emission and let the rest of the world suffer due to one’s actions. Private sectors, states and governments (delegates) must take the lead in curbing climate change.
Al Gore also provided insights on how the United States of America takes up rapid progress in curbing climate change despite the differences in political power. Seventy-eight percent of electric utilities that was built in the U.S in 2015 were powered by solar and wind energy. By shifting conventional energy to renewable energy, it will eventually open up possibilities for electrification of transportation. This idea could be adopted by our home country, Malaysia in the near future too. During the dialogue, there was a question asked on how to create and facilitate a soft landing in stranded assets. Many are concerned that if the environment wins the game, fossil fuel will be a total game over. All assets that are regards to fossil fuel and other finite resources will be devalued or converted to liabilities. Al-Gore replied that in order to avoid hard landing, divestment should start now but not later. People should start to discontinue in investing “hard” assets. Furthermore, he believes that the top agenda item after COP21, will be on the accessibility of green money/fund.
Al Gore also expressed his hope that green credit or funds that is affordable to be established. His hope resonates with me. Renewable energy is an excellent investment because there is minimal, in fact, almost no marginal cost aside from capital cost. Traditional energy requires the burning of fossil fuel (margin cost) to generate energy, whereas renewable energy such as solar energy does not undergo any burning, or chemical process that emits undesired side product. it is no doubt that job opportunities need to be opened to all renewable energy sector!
One of the civil society representative expressed her concern on the hard life of Arctic-ian due to climate change, fossil fuel extraction and land intrusion. Al Gore understood the challenges faced by the natives. At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to civil society for their effort in stopping the progress of drilling fossil fuel in Arctic. For those who are not aware, the smoke emitted from various industries, whether transboundary or local, is dispersed into the atmosphere, leading to the formation of black snow. Dark objects have the tendency to absorb more heat. In other words, black snow accelerate the melting process of Arctic ice. This amplifies the impact of climate change. In regard to this issue, Al Gore hopes, wishes, pledges and wants the Arctic to become a fossil fuel free and intrusion free country. My first thought after his speech: There is hope for polar bears!
On top of these, there is also a question related to how civil society can play an active role in COP. Al Gore answer is relatively straightforward. He urged the civil society to lobby their own government and provide assistance if necessary. Furthermore, youth in the room were also actively involved in the dialogue. Their questions were similar, revolving around the concern of how youth can be taken as real stakeholders, to have their voice projected and heard. In response to this, Al Gore gave his assurance to the youth that young people have been the vanguard of reformation. He advises the youth on 3 different approaches. Firstly, YOU-th need to become an activist and at the same time, win the conversation in climate change. Determination and persistence is the key to it. Next, YOU-th should embark and embrace on becoming the shifter for green and sustainable technology. YOU-th possess high consumer power and the market depend on such demand as well. Thirdly, YOU-th should actively involved in political process. Despite the external changes, such as pressure from NGOs and private sectors, change within the system is crucial and indispensable.
“Political will itself is a renewable resources”. Mr. Al Gore ended his speech with this meaningful quote that struck a responsive chord with his audience. He believed that all problems can be overcome if climate crisis is resolved. We should all learn from leaders like Al Gore. I have so much respect for this man, who took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to a country’s economic growth and environmental protection, including the improvements in educational system. He worked to try to improve the quality of life, not just in the U.S, but in a world that we all share.
Post-COP21 Actions
Collection of Speeches
