Delegates are accosted by a bumbling LULUCF accountant (Hannah from the UKYCC), who was searching (not very hard) for hidden carbon emissions.
Working with the YOUNGOs (youth NGOs) was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. While it involved five-hour meetings and many late nights, we achieved a lot, and it was well worth it.
Firstly, we put our energy into Article 6, which is all about climate change education through a program called the New Delhi work program. Part of the program includes valuable regional workshops about climate change in all corners of the globe. Those for Europe (in Sweden), the Asia Pacific (in Indonesia), and Latin America & the Caribbean (in the Dominican Republic) have already been held. However, the workshops for Africa and the small island states were in doubt as funding wasn’t secure. These are the people who will be hardest hit by climate change, and it looked like they would miss out on a key education program. At its heart, Article 6 is about young people, so we immediately made it a high priority.
We met with delegates from the EU and the US, and we staged an intervention in one of the plenaries (watch it here). We made our voices heard, and it was effective. Funding was increased. We also got the parties to accept ‘stakeholder engagement’ in the review process, on both an international and national level. In short, they have to ask us what we think about it – and listen!
The YOUNGOs also got to have a personal meeting with the Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, his new successor Christiana Figueres, and Mexican Ambassador Carlos García de Alba. In a small room with only about 20 of us, we really got to raise our concerns – and we got some really honest feedback about the best way to make ourselves heard.
Over the weekend, I began to get emails from young people asking ‘What are you doing about LULUCF?’ … LULU-What?
LULUCF stands for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry. Basically, it’s about how greenhouse gas emissions are affected by the way we use our land.
Some developed countries like Australia are determined to keep some loopholes in the legislation. Loggin’-lovin’ nations like us, New Zealand, Sweden, and Slovenia want things like ‘an emissions baseline from 2020′ and ‘voluntary accounting’…basically, if you translate that into plain English it means ‘make whatever targets we want’ and ‘do whatever we want’, respectively.
We held a variety of actions, all centred around LULUCF loopholes. One morning, as delegates strolled along the path towards the Maritim hotel, they were accosted by a bumbling LULUCF accountant (none other than Hannah from the UKYCC), who was searching (not very hard) for hidden carbon emissions. Then, later, we again met delegates during their lunch break, and asked them to see if they could get their carbon emissions (handily in the form of plastic balls) through the LULUCF Loophole! Luckily, there was a young person on the other side of the loophole preventing any from getting through.
Unfortunately, the changes to the LULUCF legislation were less than positive – but we’re not giving up the fight! We’ll continue in Bonn 3 and in Cancun, where COP16 will be held.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia, along with Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, blocked a request from developing countries for a technical review of the science of 1.5 degrees. The review would have looked at the impacts of that temperature rise and what would need to be done to mitigate climate change to that level. It wasn’t even legislation – just information!
We let the delegates know what we thought with a silent action as they left the negotiating room.
The talks ended on Friday with the delegates arguing about what language to speak, and whether or not to have a break to watch South Africa vs Mexico, rather than discussing climate change. While this was funny at first, I soon realised that these are the people that are deciding my future.
Nonetheless, there is a change of mood in the air. With the Gulf states’ actions, many developed countries, including the US, seem to be siding with the small island states. Although there’s a lot of scepticism about Cancun, there’s a bit of hope springing up that something concrete can be achieved there.
What Christiana Figueres said to us really resonated – the biggest impact we have, comes well before the negotiations. Young people have the greatest voice in their own countries, and it’s up to us to make our politicians lead the way in Cancun. UNFCCC talks might seem exciting, but in reality, the most important work is the work we do at home. Writing to our politicians. Educating our fellow students and young people. Voting. And of course, the beauty of the modern day is, you can make a difference – no matter where in the world you are!
So, in the lead-up to Cancun, let’s get to work. We can still get a fair, ambitious and binding deal – and we must!
– Hilary Bowman is a member of the AYCC
Photos: SustainUS
