Feelings and expectations

At Conference of Youth 9 [COY9]/ Powershift Central and Eastern Europe, the first breakout session involved discussing our expectations and our feelings related to COP19. I expect to see injustice and lots of it in regards to necessary climate change mitigation. Is it just to have this expectation?

This expectation disappoints and saddens me. It does not help knowing that so many others feel this way, although it is a source of collective inspiration. I would definitely consider this a realistic rather than pessimistic expectation. I am not as idealistic as I was once was but surely I have the right to more hope when attending a conference on progressive global change.  

I could write lots on why I feel this way and why it is justified such as that COP19 is really only preparation for COP21 in Paris. Rather than detailing the lack of progress at COP [and other similar conferences] I ask that you think about what your expectations would be for attending such a conference and how civil society should be able to have an impact on proceedings?

In an ideal world, hope will be restored to these international conferences, and they will be considered spaces where progressive change can and does happen.

All posts by Institute delegates reflect their own thoughts, opinions and experiences, and do not reflect those of the Institute.

For official Institute updates, take a look here.

Power and Oppression

This COY9/CEE Power Shift workshop examined the role of ‘Power’ and ‘Oppression’ in the negotiations and how that affects power dynamics. It was run by Ashok and Jessica from SSC. We looked at a micro level at the way power and oppression functioned in our regional climate movements, and within the dynamics of CEE Power Shift. Some interesting and though provoking ideas that I took away from that workshop were:

- We need to use caution in the language we use, especially when defining other people and how they represent themselves. We shouldn't seek to define others, only share their own representations of themselves.

- We need to be careful with prior assumptions about someone's situation due to where they come from.

- We need to be cautious with global 'south' and 'north' terms.

- We shouldn’t speak for other people. Instead we need to help provide them with the space to privilege their own views and experiences.

- We need to be aware of our privilege. We need to acknowledge how we are enabled to attend these conferences – time, money, education, experience, family support, gender equality, cultural accessibility, English language ability.

- We need to acknowledge the complexities around using English as the main language within COP/COY. This privileges those who are native English speakers. This disadvantages those with less of a grasp on the English language. This includes those negotiators that rely on translators.  

All posts by Institute delegates reflect their own thoughts, opinions and experiences, and do not reflect those of the Institute.

For official Institute updates, take a look here.

Refugees and disaster relief

I attended a really interesting workshop on climate disasters, refugees and the role of NGOs and youth. It was run by individuals from the Taiwanese Youth Climate Coalition. I think they had amazing information to share with the workshop participants. They were knowledgable on natural disaster impacts in their area and how NGOs and youth can play a role in the post disaster process. There were some language barriers that made discussions hard to follow at times. This is to be expected when groups of people from multiple nationalities get together.  It did feel a bit like it had been designed to promote the problems in their country and the role that developed countries have in helping with this, rather than a general overview of the umbrella concepts. But in teaching what they know they were able to give a more detailed account of social and cultural impacts of disasters in their area.

Christchurch comparisons of disaster aftermath were the only thing that the kiwis seemed to be able to contribute to the discussions. Although they were completely valid opinions, they were not really what the organisers of the workshop seemed to be after. Especially as the Christchurch earthquake was not climate change related. The Swedish high school students in my group (of which there were many) were talking about how the roof tiles flying off in high winds was usually as severe as it got in terms of natural disasters impacts in their area. This made it harder for them to relate to the issues of the workshop in the way it was set out.

There seemed to be an assumption that the participants would know a lot about the disasters, rather than being there to learn about them. There was also a ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality in terms of the way the organisers talked to the workshop participants- there was an assumption that all the participants were from developed countries which wasn't an idea that was explicitly explored. I think that this type of assumption can be as dangerous as assuming that all individuals from the ‘Global South’ need help and outside assistance on climate change issues.

The group that ran the workshop were intelligent and inspiring young individuals and you can check out their organisations webpage (TWYCC) using the link below. 

All posts by Institute delegates reflect their own thoughts, opinions and experiences, and do not reflect those of the Institute.

For official Institute updates, take a look here. 

TWYCC Link

Warsaw Partnership on Effective Climate Finance

I am interested in the Aotearoa NZ negotiators plan for the climate finance. Today they had a slide in their presentation at the stakeholders meeting that showed what they were going to put forward in Warsaw as a plan for better climate finance regulations. What's the catch I hear you say? Don't be so pessimistic! If they really do put this forward, and it is in the same (yet more detailed) format as they have proposed originally, then it could actually quite exciting!

Slide:

Warsaw Partnership on Effective Climate Finance:

-Encourage and support countries to set their own strategies

-Aligned behind these priorities

-Delivered in coordinated ways

-Outcomes are able to be measured, reported and verified

-Does not displace private-sector investment

So basically, developing countries to set their own priorities using simplified procedures, whilst making sure the money is well tracked and the outcomes are reported, and making sure the money is doing what it was intended for.

This outline seems great but very vague and a bit aspirational. I am not sure how it would be put into practice, as there was no talk of a plan of action. It is fine to say that they do not want public sector investment displaced, but what are they going to do to encourage that private sector investment in the first place? 

One of the other worries I have with it is that is may take a long time to set up. This could mean even more time that countries are not investing their pledged money into climate finance. The Green Climate Fund was started in 2009. According to Roger (negotiator at the Auckland stakeholder meeting) the fund is not going to be ready to receive money until around the end of 2014. This is due to the extensive amount of time that a international body requires to set up.

If the Green Climate Fund was stalled further due to the creation of new guidelines brought in by this Aotearoa NZ proposal then it would be a step backwards. However, if it did not affect the Green Climate Fund, then this new initiative could provide some much needed stakeholder representation at a grassroots level and provide locally led solutions to local climate change issues. A.k.a go Aotearoa New Zealand!

I am really interested to watch how this proposal plays out during COP19 and how it may be adopted and transformed during this process.

All posts by Institute delegates reflect their own thoughts, opinions and experiences, and do not reflect those of the Institute.

For official Institute updates, take a look here.

An unexpected journey....

Wow! What a crazy three weeks it has been. My name is Lisa McLaren and I am an Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute youth delegate. The rest of our delegation and I found out that we were chosen to go to the COP 19 climate change conference in Warsaw less than three weeks ago and now I am sitting on a plane bound for Hong Kong, the half way stop on our journey to Poland!

It has been an intense three weeks of fundraising, learning, packing and finishing off my other jobs and Masters thesis. We attended a training weekend last weekend up in Auckland, where we meet Rachel who will lead our delegation and show us the ropes. We also met her partner, David, who is traveling to COP with the Adopt a Negotiator team. Their knowledge of previous COPs they have attended will be invaluable!

Earlier today, before we departed for Hong Kong, we attended the Auckland stakeholders meeting for those interested in meeting the NZ government negotiators and hearing their plans for the conference. It was really great to get an understanding of how the NZ negotiators were approaching COP 19, not that they gave too much away! It was great to meet them and I look forward to learning from them throughout the conference during the daily NZ stakeholder meetings.

I am extremely excited to get to Poland as I have never been to Eastern Europe, and it is somewhere that I do not know too much about. I am excited to meet both youth delegates and government negotiators from around the world. I am really interested in the venue for the conference (a stadium), which apparently needs its roof opened if it starts snowing! As we are heading to Poland in their winter we might just see this in action! I have lots of NZ Marino packed so hopefully that will keep the cold temperatures at bay.

We are lucky enough to be staying at an apartment close to the stadium which will be handy as we are expecting to be having many early mornings and late nights at the conference- networking, joining in on meetings, tweeting and blogging updates!

I am in no doubt that the conference will be frustrating, exciting, infuriating, soul destroying, inspiring, intense, and life changing all at once. And I am so ready for it!! Bring on COP 19!!!!!! 

All posts by Institute delegates reflect their own thoughts, opinions and experiences, and do not reflect those of the Institute.

For official Institute updates, take a look here.