Talanoa Spirit: We are not Drowning, We are Fighting!

by admin | Nov 15, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC

COP23 is hosted by the Fiji island nation, which urges the world for immediate action. During the third day of the Pacific COP, an event was held by the Pacific Island Warriors from the 350.org Pacific program at the beautiful Talanoa Space in Bonn Zone. The event was specifically made to inform and educate the public on the actions and situation of the Pacific Island.

Blessing ceremony by the Pacific Islanders

President Bainiramara, the leader of Fiji,  said that “The scientists are now telling us that  with the disappearance of the summer ice around the North Pole, and the eventual melting of the Arctic and Greenland, the global average sea rise would be a terrifying seven meters,”. This is why the slogan of the Pacific Island Warriors can be attributed to the  “We are not Drowning, We are Fighting!” symbols.

The event started with a blessing ceremony based on the Christian beliefs. It was a heartwarming moment as they asked for God’s blessings to preserve the Pacific Island culture, heritage, land and their beliefs from the likes of climate change 

Next came the sharing session from various Pacific Island nations such as Tokelau,Tonga, Marshall Islands, Fiji etc. All of the sharing sessions gave us the idea of how they are desperately needing negotiations to ensure that Parties to the Paris Agreement hold to their promise in limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Here are a few Islander stories to share with:

Tokelau is the first Nation to use 100% renewable energy by 2014. With the population of less than 2000 residents, they have shifted towards using solar panels as a source of electrical energy. They are proud of it and hope that other countries can also take the initiative.

The people from Marshall Islands shared how they will stay rooted to their culture regardless of the changing times. They stress that indigenous people require knowledge on climate change. While the island nation of Fiji shared on how they have experienced the worst cyclone to ever hit the Southern Hemisphere, cyclone Winston was a category 5 cyclone that struck the Pacific Island in 2016 that caused major destruction along its path. And it is no doubt that climate change has played a major role in contributing to this abnormal disaster.

The Pacific Island Nations came together in solidarity to travel over 15,000 km to Bonn Germany to fight climate change and ensure that Parties to the Paris Agreement hold on to their promise to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees

The way how Fiji islands took the world stage and hosted COP23, communicating to the world of a large message how we the people, we the world, need to stand in solidarity with these beautiful people to get ourselves together and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Emphasis on the later.

To support their work and be part of the Pacific Climate Warriors you can help them fight climate change by signing their declaration at www.haveyoursei.org.  “We are not drowning, We are Fighting!”

“We cannot build a Pacific Climate Movement without engaging our faith communities. Faith is pivotal to our people, and like the ocean, it connects us. In the face of the climate crisis, we need prayer to carry our people and faith to build resilience.”

– Koreti Tiumalu, 350.org Pacific Coordinator

Written by Azam

Edited by Varun & Emily

Your Opinion Counts!

by admin | Nov 12, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC

Because of the separation of the two conference zones, I don’t often find myself attending side events. However, I managed to head over to Bonn Zone for an interesting side event this afternoon, namely “Comparing and Contrasting Public Opinion about Climate Change in China and the United States”. The event was held jointly by the China Center for Climate Change Communications and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, featuring the release of the research done by Dr. Binbin Wang from Peking University and Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz from Yale University. This session was the first time a result of the research is released to the public, and the official paper will only be available starting next week. Coincidentally, I sat by the side of someone from my university and got to know that Dr. Wang is from our university’s School of International Relations (PKUers everywhere).

A Full House!

The session started with a welcoming speech by Jing Hui from the Energy Foundation China, who highlighted the critical role of both China and the United States played in the climate change scene and posed the question of “what is the key narrative to drive stakeholder engagement?” “The Paris Agreement is no longer a chain that can be broken by the weakest link”, as stated by Nick Nuttall from the UNFCCC secretariat in his opening remarks.

In her presentation, Dr. Wang explained that the reason she is conducting the survey was to find out the opinion of the Chinese public on climate change because all we know of is that the Chinese government is very committed to meeting its commitment in the Paris Agreement. That is why she wanted to collect this data to help the government in delivering the action plan. She highlighted that the substantial Chinese public awareness on climate change was provoked by the fact that many of the day-to-day population face the bizarre effects of climate change. Based on her findings that millennials are more willing to pay for climate-friendly products, she mentioned that this data could be used to engage the business community in the fight against climate change.

Dr. Wang from Peking University

Before commencing his presentation, Dr. Leiserowitz explained that his researching had been going on for years and they have been consistently surveying with the same questions to ease the comparison of public opinion on climate change over time. He highlighted that the public opinion in the United States is highly influenced by the politics of the time, for example, there had been an increase in climate change deniers after Obama was elected president because of the campaign run by the Republican party. One of his central messages was that to the average Americans, the issue of climate change is psychological distant because of its distance in space and time.

Dr. Leiserowitz from Yale University

Amongst the panelist, Tom Brookes from the European Climate Foundation mentioned that Anglo-liberalism has an effect on the perception of climate change, whereby people see addressing climate change resulting in some group losing out in the economy. He relates this to the budding climate change denying movement in Southeast Asia, claiming that when people search for precedence in dealing with the sense of being threatened and the only example they have is being defensive, they are going to pick up on it.

Information on public opinion is essential to the fight in climate change as it acts as an input for the government to plan out its action plan. I hope that their survey can actually be used as a starting point to change people’s mind. It is necessary for us to find a narrative to break the psychological distance of climate change from our daily lives.

Written by Xiandi

Edited by Varun

The President’s Open Dialogue

by admin | Nov 12, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC

8th Nov 2017 marks the first time in the history of UNFCCC that a dialogue between parties (countries) and non-Party stakeholders were held during COP. Paving for this achievement, the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) extensively discussed on the ways to include non-Party stakeholders, of which CSOs are a part of, back in its forty-sixth session in May 2017. According to the session, they want to seek “opportunities to further enhance the effective engagement of non-Party stakeholders with a view to strengthening the implementation of the provisions of decision 1/CP.21”

In accordance with this emphasis, it is not surprising that the Fijian presidency agreed to have an Open Dialogue on 8th November 2017 with parties and non-Party stakeholders on one substantive issue – NDC Enhancement and Implementation, and one procedural issue – Enhancing observer access to and participation in formal meetings. Everyone (especially the UNFCCC Constituencies) were extremely excited about this because this is the first time the constituencies get to sit at a round-table with parties and convey the discussion. The room was almost filled at 9.45am although the starting time of the event was at 10 am.

Places being filled up quickly

The session started with the welcoming speech of the COP23 President, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. He specified the importance of this dialogue in accordance with the Talanoa spirit and mentioned that the dialogue should be open and honest in order to recognize what can work and what cannot work. The Executive Secretary for COP23, Patricia Espinosa, in her welcoming message, also highlighted that this is the first time non-party actors are included in the agenda-setting process.

As the dialogue follows the Chatham House Rule, I was unable to identify the speakers. Beginning with the first agenda item on NDC Enhancement and Implementation, different parties highlighted the projects they have back home that contributed to the NDCs. Some mentioned how they co-designed and co-delivered policies along with the non-party stakeholders back home. One party highlighted the importance of private finance and mentioned how they work with the business sector to operationalize the NDCs. Amongst all the description of how-great-we-are-in-engaging-non-party-stakeholders, one party stood out by giving out a rather ambitious comment, stating that the inputs of the non-party stakeholders should be included in the ministerial meeting and that the outcome of the discussion should be communicated to the high-level segments and distributed through press releases.

In between the discussion, the various constituencies also presented their inputs. One of them highlighted the convenience of non-party stakeholders, as they are borderless, implying the power of cross-border collaboration. They threw a subtle burn on the parties by noting NDCs could be better achieved if parties would collaborate instead of working on their own in achieving their NDCs. Others highlighted the knowledge non-party stakeholders could potentially bring to the table and urged more collaboration with non-party stakeholders.

Although the dialogue included the non-party stakeholders, the overall atmosphere of the dialogue gives a vibe of parties saying how great they were, and the non-party stakeholders reiterating what they have always been mentioning. The dialogue may be significant in terms of its existence, however, I doubt it brought any actual changes to the current situation. Parties who are including non-party stakeholders in the process will continue to do so and parties who don’t, do not seem to be interested to change either.     

Written by Xiandi

Edited by Varun

Global Stocktake – So, APA Cerita?

by admin | Nov 12, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC

It’s moving, but slowly

Parties need to take stock of progress towards the temperature goal of 1.5°C or 2°C – they need to do this in a regular time interval, beginning 2023 and they need the stocktake to inform them on how to improve their efforts in a nationally determined manner.

Of course, this is an oversimplified version of Article 14 of the Paris Agreement. In the past 5 days of the APA 1-4 session here in Bonn, Parties have continuously stated that the Global Stocktake needs to have an outcome that only informs countries and allows for each nation to act in a nationally determined manner. Honestly, I think repeating something that has already reached consensus in the Paris Agreement is counterproductive. The mandate is clear. The APA 1-4 session needs to be about bringing the GST to the next phase of operationalization and the design around it.

The Plenary Chamber- an awesome and humbling space during an informal consultation on APA agenda item 6, The Global Stocktake

We have just concluded the 5th day at COP23 and there have been 3 informal consultations on GST so far. 6 hours of consultation have been allocated for this session of APA, 4 of which have already been spent mostly speaking about items finalized in the Paris Agreement. Tomorrow, 11 November, the Parties will meet again for the final informal consultation, this time for 2 hours, to discuss equity and how they see it in the context of the GST. Considering how equity is a contentious topic, on top of how discussions have gone this week, I don’t see how the co-facilitators of the informal consultations, Richard Muyungi of Tanzania and Outi Honkatukia of Finland, will be able to come to a conclusion before next week’s round of negotiations.

Equity

I say equity is a contentious issue, but it really shouldn’t be. The concept is simple. Based on historical and present contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and current capabilities, countries have differing levels of responsibility to act on climate change. For instance, Malaysia’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions in 2011 was 0.06%¹ , while the United States’ share of emissions in 2010 was 14%². The basis for the concept is sound; we just need to get past the incredible greed and lack of political will from developed nations.

In the most recent G77 and China coordination meeting, the consensus is clear – equity has to be a part of the GST. What’s still unclear is exactly how. Is equity considered in the process of the GST, or after the process – in the outcomes, or both? As Parties meet again for the last informal consultation tomorrow, I speculate there will be a substantial amount of politicking or pushback from the developed countries, as developing countries throw their support behind equity in the GST.

The building blocks

While the issue of equity is paramount, the informal consultations have mainly revolved around the so-called building blocks of the GST. These building blocks are in the form of a table, drafted by the co-facilitators with inputs coming by way of Parties’ submissions and interventions. The Parties have been mostly agreeable to using the building blocks as a framework to advance the discussion on the modalities and phases of the GST, with just a few Parties requiring reassurances that this building blocks document is by no means set in stone or will be the final text.

The task facing the co-facilitators is not a small one. They will have to find a way to keep the discussions going on the building blocks as well as navigate through the discussion on how to operationalize equity in the GST. I don’t know what tomorrow’s informal consultation will bring, but I foresee developed nations acting in their conventional manner of stalling the conversation on equity. Despite that, developing countries will continue to push for equity in the GST process, encompassing mitigation, adaptation, finance, capacity building, technology transfer, and even loss and damage.

I’m no expert but the compromise may lie somewhere in the concept of the GST outcome being taken in a nationally determined manner, instead of being prescriptive. But will that lead to increased ambition? I’m skeptical. As the negotiator from the Solomon Islands so passionately stated in his intervention, the GST has to lead to increased ambition, both equitably and directly translated in each Parties NDCs. Only then will we see progress.

References:

1. Malaysia’s Nationally Determined Contributions
2. Global greenhouse gas emissions, New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series

Written by Mike

Edited by Varun

Young and Future Generations Day – Youth and Climate Change Forum by MYD

by admin | Nov 11, 2017 | #MYD, MYD2017, UNFCCC

Young and Future Generations Day (YoFuGe Day) is a BIG thing for the YOUNGO youth constituency at the Conference of Parties, UNFCCC. It is a day dedicated specifically for the youth and we celebrate it throughout the whole day with activities organised by different organisations. For the first time ever, the Malaysian Youth Delegation organised an official UNFCCC event at the YoFuGe Day at COP23!  

The event took place at the Malaysia Pavilion at 10am, right after the Opening Ceremony of the YoFuGe Day that was launched by UNFCCC and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Opening Ceremony launched the YoFuGe Day by introducing a series of youth-related events, followed by a sharing session of climate stories from YOUNGO members on stage.

MYD’s Youth and Climate Change forum was the first event of the day, after the Opening Ceremony. The objective of the forum is to provide a common platform for youth to exchange ideas and have an intellectual dialogues in the lines of role of youth in climate change, incorporating discussion regarding perspectives on youth from Global North and Global South. The forum engaged a range of esteemed speakers from youth globally.

The lineup of speakers were:

• Lhavanya Dharmalingam from the Malaysian Youth Delegation
• Sara Nyberg from PUSH Sweden
• Lagi Seru from Project Survival Fiji
• Mona Hosseini from CLImates Germany
• Saffran Mihnar from EarthLanka Sri Lanka
• Syaqil Suhaimi from MYD as Moderator

Moderator and panellist for the Youth forum. From left to right; Syaqil (Malaysia), Lhavanya (Malaysia), Saffran (Sri Lanka), Mona (Germany), Sara (Sweden), Lagi (Fiji)

The forum was set up in a relax setting, allowing speakers and participants to engage freely with one another. It was eye opening and mind widening to be able to hear the different scenarios faced by different countries and different regions in regards to climate change. Mona from Germany pointed out that Germany have managed to ban nuclear power, however there is still little progress on coal. She also mentioned about the veganism culture in Germany, and how it is not quite as receptive as many would think. “Youth should step up and take the lead,” she said.

Lagi Seru from Fiji echoed her sentiments on leadership. He stated, “Youth are not leaders of the future. Leadership begins now.”

When it came to a question on equity, or more commonly known as the Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), that is one of the primary principle being discussed in the negotiations and significantly highlighted in the Paris Agreement, captured in Article 2.2, whereby it states that “This Agreement will be implemented to reflect equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances,” Lhavanya from Malaysia passionately voiced out her opinion on the subject matter.

“Malaysia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) states 35% GHG emission intensity reduction of GDP by 2030 with a 2005 baseline, and a further conditional 10% with support of climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer from the developed countries. Malaysia have already achieved 33% of their 35% unconditional target, but I believe that we can do more. CBDR is an important principle but should not be a crutch,” said Lhavanya.

The panel discussion was followed by a Q&A session. It was great to see the participants being so engaged with the session, and asking many questions. Another Fijian youth even left a powerful message:

“As youth, we need to push the climate change agenda forward. Even if we don’t have space, make one and keep pushing.”

Indeed, youth play an important role in pushing the climate change agenda forward. United, our voices are loud – and we need to be succinct on what we want. We must move forward together collectively for a climate-just future.

At the end of the session, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Dato’ Dr. Azimuddin, thanked and greeted the youth at the Malaysia Pavilion, and handed out token of appreciation to the panel of speakers. He congratulated MYD on the successful event and encouraged us to hold more invigorating discourse like this in the future.

Mandatory post event group picture with the Climate Sign

To know more on the detailed discussion of the forum, view live video here.

Written by Jasmin

Edited by Varun