Cheers to Week Two, Youth, and the Future!

On Monday Kelly, Jennifer, and I had the opportunity to begin our week at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference. After an introductory tour of the stadium conference center, we found a place to sit down, discuss the week's agenda, and plan our schedule for the day. After reviewing our overwhelmingly exciting and seemingly endless list of options, a side event entitled "Green and Decent Jobs for Youth - Building Synergies between Climate and Employment Policies" caught our attention. This side event was the perfect introduction to the conference for me, because it was exciting, explained possible solutions to a problem we face everyday, and left an overall hopeful feeling in the air. 

The panel of 5 included the host Anabella Rosemberg, with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Dave Foster, Executive Director of the Blue-Green Alliance,  from the United States, two young people representing the youth perspective, and a member of the European Union Trade Union Corporation.  They discussed the concept of economic transfer to greener work places by those who are currently unemployed. These job opportunities would give them decent pay and the all the benefits that come from better quality jobs.  It all seemed so simple; give unemployed youth jobs that integrate greener technology and ensure economic growth in a low carbon economy. Programs like European Youth Guarantee and Green Skills Partnerships are leading the way in providing youth employment in jobs that use sustainable practices. If employers worldwide were able to follow the lead of these organizations and other programs with similar missions to link a sustainable agenda with youth employment, not only could we create a greener future for future generations, but also a better standard of living for the people here today. 

Greener jobs for youth will educate these otherwise unemployed young people to further understand climate change, while supporting and giving opportunities to youth who would otherwise not be able to find decent service jobs. This inspiring side event only grew my excitement for the rest of the events and meetings I will attend this week, and the diverse knowledge I will gain about a diverse topic that gives purpose to this entire conference. 

Weekend excursion

This weekend there was a light schedule of COP activities so our delegation took advantage of the opportunity the schedule provided by going on an adventure to Krakow, Poland.  For most of our time in Poland we are divided into two groups with a set of activities and responsibilities for each, so the weekend was a nice time for the two groups to get together and bond.

Our excursion began with a three hour train ride through the Polish countryside.  After we arrived at our destination, we meandered our way through the rustic streets of Krakow where we were all taken aback by the beauty. The rest of the day consisted of exploring the city and taking in the European culture.

The next day, we had the opportunity to tour the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Emotions ranged from fear to sadness and anger, and yet we all seemed to be interested in broadening our knowledge and understanding of this horrific time in history. At the end of the tour and a sobering day I think everyone was able to take away an aspect of the experience that will stay with them forever.

For the Future & Beyond

One aspect of climate change that is hard for people to grasp is how to counteract the process. A major point that has become clear during our delegation's first week at COP 19 is that there truly is not just a single answer to the perplexing problem of a changing climate. This is not simply a matter of renewable energy or mitigation or adaptation.  There is not one overarching answer to be found that will magically solve everything. We must realize that we will need to use an array of strategies to combat climate change, because every strategy that is available to us has positives and negatives, advantages and drawbacks.

Attending COP 19 this past week,  I have realized that we must not only use all the strategies of mitigation and adaptation at our disposal, but also integrate the strengths of previous, current, and future generations. It is necessary for the youth of today to gain a technical understanding of the problems embedded in climate change and, with the help of older generations, come together to build a better understanding and strategy plan for years to come.

Past generations may  have contributed more to the climate change problem than the youth of today, but there is no point in moping over the past. We must remember what has been done and move forward with a better adapted society, living and acting based on the knowledge of today while continuing to develop technologies that will make the future better. George Santayana once said, "Those who forget history, are doomed to repeat it." Let's take the advice of this great philosopher and realize, while we have done the earth wrong, we can all have a part in making it better. For the future and beyond.

An encounter with wisdom

After going to session after session this week we saw a lot of speakers that we liked and others that we didn't.  One speaker that really resonated with many of us was Mr. Heru Prasetyo of Indonesia. He is the Co-Chair of the REDD+ Task Force. He has a way of speaking that makes difficult concepts easy to understand and keeps his speeches interesting throughout. He is a very wise man.

REDD is a United Nations program that focuses on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.  Recently a plus was added making it REDD+ to reflect the expanded focus of the program to include conservation, sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Because our group showed a lot of interest in talking to Mr. Prasetyo, when Mr. Johnson saw him next he asked if a meeting with our group would be possible. He said yes, and that Mr. Satya Tripathi, the REDD+ Director for Indonesia, would also be accompanying him. We immediately started thinking of questions to ask Mr. Prasetyo and researching all that we could about him. We were to meet him at 3:00 pm in the Conference Center Food Court. When he got there he was very friendly and insisted on buying us something to eat. After we all had our food we started our conversation.

Our group with Mr. Pasetyo (right) and Mr. Tripathi (second from right)

He first started out asking about our school because he was very intrigued that we went to an environmental high school. He asked us about our curriculum and also about the environment of Minnesota.

Mr. Prasetyo began by telling us that it all starts with us and what we do. We are the youth and even though it is difficult to think of our impact on the world, it is necessary. Mr. Tripathi told us about when he was a boy and first started to shave. He would leave the water running the entire time to wash his razor off. His mother told him that he should only turn on the water when he needed it and turn it off when he wasn't using it. He didn't believe that he was wasting water so his mother measured the amount of water he used keeping the water running and also the amount when he turned it on and off. When he turned the water on and off he used significantly less water than when he left it running.  Because of this lesson, he has been turning the water off when he shaves ever since, and by his calculations, saved about 250,000 liters of water over his lifetime.  He told us that we don't have to stop doing things, we just have to do them in a more environmentally friendly way.

I asked Mr. Prasetyo what his job was beyond his role as Co-Chair of the REDD+ Task Force.  He got his degree in Industrial engineering and wanted to go into government work.  His father told him there was no money in that type of work and that he would have to be corrupt to work with the government, but he wanted to help  the people of Indonesia. He followed his father's advice and got a masters degree in business, later taking a job in the private sector, moving to an international consulting firm, and eventually rising to Managing Director of the company. He retired, and after taking some time off went to the public sector to fulfill his original goal of helping the  people of Indonesia. He currently works as a deputy director for the President of Indonesia and part of his job is to oversee the development of a REDD National Implementation Plan for Indonesia.

When we asked Mr. Prasetyo about why REDD did not seem to be working as it was planned, he used an analogy between books becoming movies and progress in programs like REDD+ as they get put into action. He talked about how books that are turned into movies, like The Hobbit, have to either lose parts or have parts added for them to fit into a movie format. REDD and similar programs are like that as well because they start as a written plan but when they actually start to be implemented, people have to get rid of things and add things so that the program can work in the real world.

It was an amazing opportunity and I am grateful to Mr. Heru Prasetyo and Mr. Satya Tripathi for giving of their time to talk to us.

A briefing from the COP 19 President

Today the COP 19/CMP 9 President, Polish Minster of Environment Marcin Korolec, took time out of his busy schedule to hold a briefing for Observer Organizations. After being introduced by the
Chair of the meeting, Mr. Korolec gave his briefing on the ambitions of COP 19 and how they will lead to successful negotiations at the future COPs, specifically COP 21 in Paris in 2015.

There has been a lot of focus on the 2015 COP 21 conference in Paris because the Kyoto Protocol, the original legally binding international agreement to reduce carbon emissions, commitment period expired in 2012. It was supposed to be replaced with a new, legally binding agreement to reduce emissions at COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009. For a variety of reasons the creation of a new, legally binding treaty failed and nothing with binding emissions reductions replaced the Kyoto Protocol. However, at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa, it was agreed that a new, legally binding treaty would ready by 2015, hence the high expectations from parties and observers alike.

It is because of this that Poland has insisted on transparency and inclusiveness at the COP 19 conference, in the hopes that it will lead to agreements from the Parties on structure and implementation essential to getting consensus on a new treaty in Paris at COP 21. The level of openness has been extended to us in Civil Society as well, allowing for us to sit in on informal consultations and other meetings not normally available to us.

Once the President of the COP made his introductory remarks summarizing the goals of this COP, he opened the floor to questions from the observers, on all areas of the conference. While all of the questions were very insightful to many issues, there were definitely some that I found more interesting.

Many people at COP 19 have felt that the juxtaposition of the World Coal Association Conference in Warsaw next week is inappropriate considering the goals of this COP. However Mr. Korolec said that efforts to reduce CO2 emissions would not benefit from a good guy versus bad guy mentality. Coal has played an important part in Poland's development and is still used in the production of most of their energy. After their economy was stimulated, as a result of energy from coal, their GDP increased by 200%, which has allowed them to put financial resources toward the reduction of their own emissions.

There is also much frustration in the delegates here over lack of action after the devastating typhoon in the Philippines. It was felt by many Parties and NGOs that this should stir action in the negotiations but so far in the conference it does not seem to have added any urgency to the processes. The COP president reminded the NGOs that the UNFCCC is a Party process and, while many feel this way, not all Parties are ready for action or share the urgency for action. It is both the beauty and the curse of the UNFCCC process.

Several NGOs brought up the fact that, despite the promise of transparency, many sessions that had been previously listed as open were closed to Civil Society. The President deferred to the chair of the SBI, who did not know why so many sessions were closed to Civil Society against direct instructions to be open, but promised to investigate the situation.

While it is obvious that transparency at the conference is still something that needs to be worked on, there is definitely an effort being made. Especially by the President of the COP, which is a welcome change and a fascinating process to watch.

COP19 - The time for implementation is now

COP19 must be a COP of implementation, but with implementation comes the challenge of financing the projects to be implemented.  So far developing countries are taking more responsibility than the developed countries of the world in taking the actions called for in the Kyoto Protocol.  In reality this situation should be reversed, considering the fact that the developing countries are the countries with less money and fewer resources.

The recent global recession has made it difficult for developed countries to keep their financial commitments to fight climate change. But despite these facts, developed countries are still finding money for other "problems" such as wars and keeping other aspects of their economies running. Developed countries currently are ignoring their pledged support for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) process. This calls for developed countries who cannot meet their carbon emissions targets through mitigation to supply money to developing countries who can then implement clean development projects in their own countries. Even though the developed countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol are obligated to mitigate their own emissions and/or supply needed money for the CDM process, they too often choose to do neither, with no consequences besides the continued lack of clean development in developing countries and the demise of our planet.

There needs to be clarification of HOW these funds will be collected and distributed because money for climate change mitigation and adaptation is rapidly drying up. Also, there must be consequences for countries who pledge money and do not follow through with either their own mitigation efforts or the funding of CDMs in developing countries.  Developed countries need to start to feel a sense of urgency in the matter of a morphing climate and not ignore the problem all together.

We are all equal, and EVERYONE has the same responsibilities and the same problems. There is no time to put off the bettering of our planet that developed countries have had such a big part in worsening. The time is now, and time is money. The longer we wait, the more money will be needed to fix the problem humans have put upon themselves.

Peeking Behind the Curtain

From a distance it can seem like the UNFCCC is just a giant organization that magically churns out decisions that, no matter what, not everyone agrees with. Even up close at the conference it can seem like that if you don't look in the right places. But there is actually a lot work that goes into the proposals before they even go before the full assembly of the Parties. 

Today I had the opportunity to sit in and watch the process up close. I attended an informal consultation  of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). The group at the meeting was going over opinions and requests from delegates of various countries regarding a draft proposal on Systematic Observation. Walking in I was probably about as lost as you are right now, as I had no idea what I was getting into. I just saw it on the schedule, thought it sounded interesting and said to myself, 'Why not?'

The easiest thing to figure out was what was meant by Systematic Observations. They were talking about the need for continued research and observation of the climate, and financing of said research, in order to make informed decisions on climate change.

The informal consultation is where delegates from countries that have an opinion or interest voice their opinion on the draft of a proposal. This proposal was written by the chair of the meeting, who will take the countries remarks on the draft into consideration before creating a revised proposal to be presented and hopefully approved later in the conference. It was interesting to listen to all the requests and positions of different countries and how they were affected by climate change. It was enlightening to listen to countries like Mali and others. It was obvious that there is a need for on-going research, even if gaps in research may not seem like the most pressing issue when compared to things like adaptation and mitigation. Yet I felt frustration towards our own country, whose delegation said that because they had not received the draft until recently, the US had not had time to go through all the official government channels, and therefore they could not comment on it's content. Canada echoed the same remarks. Developing countries could make the time to fully read and respond to the report; even the European Union (EU) was able to comment.  This is a modest example, but the pattern of developed countries not doing what many Parties and their delegations feel to be their share is a frustration that is echoed through out the conference.

However my excitement to simply watch the process outweighed any of my own frustrations with the process. The woman sitting next to me was from another Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and she explained to me that at most conferences, members of civil society, like us, are not normally allowed into meetings of this level. Apparently my experience is fairly unique to the COP 19 Conference and I feel privileged to have been allowed to watch.