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.
Volunteers of #MYD & #PowerShiftMsia were interviewed on a radio talk show on youth’s take on climate change.
Thank you TraXX FM 100.1FM for hosting us today on your airwaves. Special thanks to DJ KongEu TraxxFM for the great time.
Equipped with the knowledge and resources, humans continue to advance themselves using the help of all kinds of technology. Similarly, in the fight against climate change, we have resorted to technology in hopes to rectify this critical situation. Nonetheless, we need to remember nothing is entirely good and viceless. In other words, there are pros and cons to everything.
In this article written by Roxanne Low, she prompts us to think about the seamless BECCS that might not be so flawless,
Considering our option using BECCS
By Roxanne Low (MYD15)
All these while, humans have been using science to their advantage to develop various technologies to improve lives. Activities that were carried out in the name of development and advancement have led humans to do onto mother earth what cannot be undone. As a result, the inhabitants of the earth, including ourselves, are left to face with the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change such as increasing Earth’s average temperature, rising sea level due to the melting of permafrost and changes in amounts and patterns of precipitation. Today, the current carbon dioxide gas concentration in the atmosphere is alarmingly at 50 parts per million (ppm) more than what is considered the safety amount (at 350ppm) “to preserve a livable planet” (350.org). Fortunately for us, in our battle against climate change, scientists and researchers have made a new technology called the Bio-energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) available to us.
What is BECCS and how does it work? Some believe that BECCS is a brilliant technology for it would allow us to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. With this system, we can resolve the issue of having high CO2 ppm. According to an article published by the DailyMailUK, the logic behind BECCS is quite simple; the agricultural crops which absorb CO2 from the atmosphere will be burnt in a power station to generate energy. Then, the resulting emission from the burning of these crops will be captured by the BECCS plant and stored deep underground. Therefore, “the combination of bioenergy with carbon capture is a carbon reducing technology that can achieve net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is a significant advantage over other [climate change] mitigation alternatives.” (As stated in an online publishing by International Energy Agency, 2014)
Photo Credits by http://biorecro.com/?page=about_us_press
Go BECCS! In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report (AR4), BECCS received much special attention because of its potential to supply energy with negative emission which in simpler terms means that greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is permanently removed from the Earth’s atmosphere. Since then, many governments have been exploring the option for BECCS as a technology that could play a role in the energy and climate policy. This can be seen through the efforts of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that organized various workshops in corporations with other institutions and experts to seek opportunities and challenges for developing BECCS in countries like Indonesia and Brazil. Furthermore, seeing that this system require a plant to store carbon emission underground, countries with gas wells and coal mines such as Britain can easily convert these into storage facilities to test out BECCS.
Today, in the faith that this newly invented super technology is the way forward as a key climate mitigation option, the governments of USA and Canada has run it on a small scale in their countries. Nevertheless, for the Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) system to be effective, it needs to happen on a large scale.
Flipping the Coin
While there seem to be great potential in the BECCS and CCS in general, there have been critics who urge that we consider both sides of the coin carefully. The the goodness of this technology can easily mask the shortcomings, but if BECCS is brought to a larger scale, the possible adverse impact would surely take a toll on our environment.
In a recent article, published by the ETC Group, it was suggested that despite what BECCS seems to be, a supreme technology, it is unlikely to save us from climate change. Few important issues that were raised by critics to dispute the concept are as follows:-
Where would billions of tonnes of captured carbon be stored? The likely destination would be “enhanced oil recovery” techniques, increasing, not decreasing, the flow of fossil fuels that cause climate change.
To reduce overall CO2 by 1 billion tons using BECCS would require a landmass of 218-990 million hectares of land which is 14-65 times as much land as the US uses to grow corn for ethanol. This would require landgrabbing on an enormous scale.
BECCS proponents assume that 10 billion tonnes of wood can be harvested per year without any carbon from soil or ecosystems escaping into the atmosphere. And yet, land use change and emissions from soil are widely acknowledged as leading drivers of climate change.
Today, the only schemes that are labelled as BECCS extract CO2 from biofuels such as ethanol, tying this scheme to their many associated problems, starting with land grabs and food price hikes.
Would the hundreds of billions of tonnes of stored carbon leak into the atmosphere or pollute local ecosystems?
A country with geology, climate policies and skills and has also been a strong supporter of renewable energy, Germany does not fancy CCS. In fact, Jochen Flasbarth, the state secretary at Germany’s federal environmental ministry told New Scientist that buried CO2 is seen to be as bad as nuclear waste.
As a counter argument to the critical issues brought up by non-supporters of BECCS, it is that in this time of urgency, any possible solution should be given a chance to be tested. In order for us to keep the hope of keeping the increase of global temperature less than 2°C, active investigation of different technologies is greatly needed.
BECCS or No BECCS The reason for considering various points of view is to have a more holistic judgment towards an issue. It may be justifiable that the advancement of our technology should be taken advantage of, but due underlying uncertainties that could be present in regards to “the life-cycle toxicity of some capture solvents, the operational safety and long-term integrity of CO2 storage sites, and the risks associated with CO2 transport via dedicated pipelines” (DailyMail UK, 2014), the discussion on “BECCS or no BECCS” still remains debatable.
Whether or not this ingenious technology thrives, perhaps the other approach to mitigate climate change on the grassroots level could be the awareness-raising of individual carbon footprint. The fight against climate change is not only the responsibility of large institutions and countries’ governments but every single individual’s effort to reduce carbon emission by simply a change in lifestyle. Always remember that small changes can go a long way to protect our planet Earth.
If you ask people, how does one increase his wealth? A logical answer you will get is to make investments and multiply your wealth. But wait, you have to be careful in what you invest in order to earn those big bucks! Not only for the sake of earning money, but also for the care of planet Earth.
Start now, join the Divestment Movement, it is still not too late! Stop letting fossil fuel companies continue to destroy your habitat. Make intelligent investment in clean and renewable energy rather than dirty fossil fuel. Since you are investing your money, you have the power and choice to make good investments.
Presenting.. an article by Pit Yuen on joining the bright side for a better and more promising future.
Divestment movement is a campaign rooted in US campuses to advocate various institutions and individuals from everywhere to pull out their financial investments (in term of stocks, bonds and investment funds) from fossil energy (coal, gas and oil) related firms which deemed to be the major contributor of Carbon Dioxide (one of the greenhouse gases), in order to tackle climate change issue. Now, the movement has spread across many parts of the world especially in Europe, with a record of $50bn divested so far, according to US Fossil Free campaign. More than 220 institutions (namely universities, faith organizations, local authorities, pension funds and foundations) have now committed to divest from fossil fuels since the launch of the climate campaign in 2012 by 350.org. In this instance, Fossil Free lists 837 institutions and individuals as having committed to divesting.
Photo credits by tcktcktck.org
350.org (which included power shifts movement at local levels), led by Bill McKibben, is one of the pioneer organizations that is greatly dedicated in global climate movement. They launch online campaigns, grassroots organizing and mass public actions to boycott the assets and programmes of fossil energy related companies, implant awareness of climate change to world citizens, and create the solutions that will ensure a better future for all. They also aim to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from its current level of 400 parts per million to below 350 ppm.
Quakers and Glasgow University are among the first in Europe to commit to fossil fuel divestments, in the meantime Oxford University has ruled out direct investment in coal and tar sands, hence, this movement is considered the fastest growing divestment campaign in history. The movement correspondences including the heirs of Rockefeller in withdrawing the fossil fuel investments ($60m) in the $860m Rockefeller Brothers Fund, joined with 800 global investors pledging to divest from fossil fuels in September 2014. In April 2015, the Guardian’s parent company, Guardian Media Group said it would divest its $1bn fund from all fossil fuel.
Photo Credits by www.commondreams.org
This movement might not able to concur discernible financial pressure, as in the case of Divestment movement against Apartheid of South Africa, but non-financial impact by shaping public discourse in climate change and energy security, therefore trigger the growth of renewable energy (wind, solar, biofuels, biomass, hydro and geothermal). In a long run, the movement should make sure all those committed are accountable to their commitment and follow up actions must be implemented.
On the other hand, Divestment Movement must realize that fossil fuels still play a crucial part in 21st energy mix policy especially in various industrial sectors, being the most economical and efficient energy option. This is the main argument from Third World Countries where the standard living of huge populations are below poverty line. The other applicable approach is install CO2 catchment mechanism at the output ends, in order to reduce release of CO2 into atmosphere.the developing and least developed .The more realistic and applicable approach to achieve minimal usage of fossil fuels is Energy Mix Policy, whereby fossil fuels are crucial in industry sectors especially in logistic and machinery In logical sense, fossil fuel is one of the essential parts in 21st century energy mix policy, especially in logistic of industries and commercial sectors as well as transportation.
The latest (5th June 2015) and biggest divestment movement made by Norway’s Parliament has endorsed the move of selling off coal investments ($8bn) from its $900bn sovereign wealth fund, which will affect 122 companies across the world. Not only that, it will also set an example for other investors to follow. The magnitude of social and environmental impacts of this movement will be revealed in the future, the dilemma of pros and cons is a continuous challenge to humanity.
Reference:
1. 350.org
2. The Guardian
3. Harvard Political Reviews
