UPDATE — New video from our meeting with the Japanese delegation.
Japan could shift the course of the climate talks with a strong finance proposal. It’s a huge part of Copenhagen, the financing of the $200 billion per year fund for climate change adaptation and mitigation. One of the countries that could be the lynchpin to these funds being allocated by the Annex 1 countries that need to pay their fair share in climate debt is Japan. Countries like the US have made short term financing suggestions but nothing in-line with what is really needed. Japan like the US are needed to support poorer countries in climate change adaptation funds so that they can transition to clean energy economies and take immediate action to save the communities most impacted by climate change.
The Japanese youth delegation know the potential that exists for Japan to be a climate leader on finance. They realize Japan has the opportunity to be a leader in unlocking the additional financing caught up in political posturing and rhetoric. To crank up this message the youth delegation joined the Avaaz aliens to take demands directly to Japan’s delegation; demands that humans can’t seem to muster up the courage to ask. Hiroyuki Hori and Jouju Vechi from Tokyo, and Yaicha Bookhout of Missoula suited up and went green to hunt down the Japanese representatives. They were determined to deliver the statement ( see below) Japanese youth statement to Japan’s negotiators
Word spread to the Japan’s offices as the aliens wondered the hallways calling for Japan to take up a climate leadership role in Copenhagen. The aliens were essentially asking Japan to save Copenhagen as without real finances there is no real deal. Japan quickly sent message to the aliens that the Japanese delegates would like to meet with the aliens and make a statement on what they are asking of Japan!
The Japanese youth got quick response from the delegation, which is promising, however we need commitments not promised statements from. The meeting is set to take place in s few hours and we’ll be watching to see what happens.
Will Japan take the bold leadership needed to save Copenhagen or will they fall in line with other annex one countries that refuse to commit the additional funding needed to save the most impacted countries?
As far as these young leaders are concerned, they believe that Japan will make the right decision and become bold leaders here in Copenhagen.
I’ll update this post after the meetings take place and Japan has made their statement in reaction.
Statement by Japanese Youth Delegation
For the agreement at COP15 to address the global warming
We as youth who are going to live in 2050, when the global warming issues will intensify, attend the COP15 with concerns that:
- technological estimations presented by IPCC should be taken seriously, and global warming is a problem across generations, who will suffer more consequences
- the agreement on the next framework may not be reached during COP15, which leads to the delayed provisions for global warming
- the delayed provisions could worsen the situation, and it may be too late when we become decision makers
- Japanese government was not able to achieve the 6% reduction target from 1990 level
We, youth in Japan, where the Kyoto Protocol was born, would like to make a statement, believing the possibilities of international cooperation on climate change with the progress of Kyoto Protocol, hoping to solve the problem as frontiers, not as victims, and believing the possibilities and the necessities of international agreement during COP15 on the framework after 2013 in order for global warming to be solved
We require the Japanese government:
- to take leadership at COP15 in coming to an agreement on an international framework that assumes the regulatory structure of the Kyoto Protocol to regulate the total volume of greenhouse gas emission
- to refrain from taking actions that would broaden the gap between developed and developing countries, or to disturb negotiations from progressing
- to introduce an effective policy in order to achieve the 6% reduction target during the first commitment period and not to take any economic policy that counteracts the mitigation effort
- to abide by the mid-term target of 25% greenhouse gas cut by 2020 from 1990 level, and to introduce an effective policy to achieve the target
- to consider the adequacy, predictability, and sustainability of the financial mechanism for developing countries to mitigate greenhouse gas emission, to make progress in adapting against the harmful effects of global warming, and for developed countries to implement technology transfer
- to listen actively to the youth concerned about climate change
- to show the determination to solve climate change issues to youth
We appeal to Japanese youth:
- to recognize the importance of COP15, keep international negotiations and the Japanese government’s movement under surveillance, raise voice when issues need to be heard, and to share with their friends, family and people around them what they noticed and thought about regarding the negotiations.
- to recognize the danger and urgency relating climate change issues, and that these issues are directly affecting us and our children, and to have a clear image of who will be living in 2050, and who will be the actual victims of global warming.
- to recognize that their political action can change the government’s policy, voting for those with progressive climate change policy upon national and municipal elections
- to believe in themselves and to strive to be actors for change
We act along with youth of the world:
i. to recognize climate change’s seriousness and urgency under the same vision by thoroughly communicating, as youth living in the same generation
ii. to convey the current situation and challenges of Japan’s climate change policy to international youth, to learn those of other countries, and to advocate for Japanese youth who could not participate in COP15
iii. as the representatives of future generations who will suffer the adverse effects of climate change the most, to make the world leaders realize that reaching to an agreement in COP15 benefits both future generations and today’s world leaders
iv. to be engaged in actions along with youth of the world to appeal to each government during and after COP15 in a continuous manner
v. to appeal the world that for youth, solving climate change issues is a matter of survival, not a matter of loss and gain.
