Most Threatened, Least Represented « It’s Getting Hot In Here

cross-posted on SustainUS’s Agents of Change blog

As reported by the BBC last week, the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, will have to skip the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen because, well, they just can’t afford it.

The low-lying island nation is at serious risk of disappearing under rising oceans caused by global warming, but can’t afford to fight for its own survival at the negotiations, citing the financial crisis. The Maldivian economy ranked 186th in 2008, and more than 20% of Maldivians are below the poverty line, with average income per person at $4,400. 800px-Male-total

It’s an extreme example of a common problem – those with the most to lose from global warming often have the least representation in the UN climate debate. All of those flights and hotels add up, and poorer countries can’t bear the costs. Many developing nations only have one or two government delegates, and the UN has a fund that only covers at most one delegate per country.

With multiple parallel meetings expected each day of the two weeks in Copenhagen, sometimes lasting late into the night, one or two delegates just aren’t enough to represent their country’s needs.

The U.S. and other big polluters send dozens of negotiators and specialists to each meeting.

The situation for youth from most countries is even worse. Some have literally never had a young person from their nation attend the climate talks. For youth from many more countries, especially in the Global South, one or two youth at most might be able to afford to come. Even for countries like the U.S. that will send a large youth presence to Copenhagen, the poorest among us – those least able to afford a hotter future – still face the biggest obstacles to participating.

This year, youth from the UK, India, Australia, and the U.S. are working raise money for their peers to speak for their future in Copenhagen, but the problem for cash-strapped countries and youth remains.

No word yet on whether Maldivian youth will have a voice…

About Kyle

Kyle Gracey is the Chair for SustainUS: U.S. Youth for Sustainable Development. He is a Harris Fellow and dual M.S. student studying public policy and geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, where he is writing his thesis on the long-term job creation potential of clean energy generation. He serves on the university's Sustainability Council, where he helped launch a bike sharing program that will provides job training to at-risk youth. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with degrees in Ecological Economics, Values & Policy and Biochemistry/Biophysics. There, he was the President of EcoLogic and Vice President of Finance and founding member of the Engineers for a Sustainable World chapter. He also studied international developmental and environmental issues at The American University in Washington, DC and in Brazil, Israel, Iceland, and the United Arab Emirates. A Truman Scholar, Kyle has worked in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as an Environmental Policy Analyst and as an International Economist Intern in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and was an Education Docent at the National Aquarium. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the youth science & technology policy organization Student Pugwash USA, and is the University of Chicago Representative for both the Clinton Global Initiative and Campus Progress. He previously served as SustainUS Treasurer, Citizen Science Technical Board member, delegate to the UN Commission for Social Development, and delegate and domestic coordinator for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has written for everything from the Worldwatch Institute & Climate Progress to his hometown newspaper, and been interviewed by media from Chicago radio to French documentaries to Japanese science wire reporters.