It’s Getting Hot In Here

Dear friends,

The United Nations climate change conference is now underway in Bali, Indonesia. We, the Australian youth need 60 seconds of your time to help keep the Pacific Islands on the map.

We have met with many Pacific Islanders over the week and their emotional pleas make the urgency of the situation clear. Small island nations are already suffering the impacts of climate change, with sea level rise innundating countries like Kiritbati, which are a maximum of two metres above sea level. It is these countries that have contributed the least to climate change, yet are suffering the worst effects.

We can secure the Pacific Islands a place on the map if we look to the future now.

Australia needs to make deep cuts in its emissions and to support its neighbors.

Here’s what we want you to do:

Email us a simple message of support for the Pacific Islander people to australianyouthdelegation@gmail.com or join our Facebook group ‘Keep the Pacific Islands on the map’ and leave a wall post. The Australian Youth Delegation here in Bali will be presenting these messages of support to a group of Pacific Islanders here in Bali on WEDNESDAY 12 ^th December.

If we get over 2000 messages we will present them to the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; we will call for deep cuts in Australia’s emissions.

This is a great way to show your support for action on climate change and for climate justice. Please email your letters to us NOW!

Thanks,

Australian Youth in Bali (www.youthclimatecoalition.org)

By Emily Lawrence

Decisions, decisions, decisions! – as an Australian Youth Delegate, decisions play an integral part in our functioning – as opportunities arise, equally as many decisions must be made. Who will present when, who will meet who, who will do what?

Today, an AYD verdict allowed me the opportunity to participate in a meeting with the COP13 UNFCCC President – Mr Witoelar, the purpose for which was unsure. Delegates from 5 regions discussed our meeting tactics and formulated some form of plan for our 15 minute contact with this influential figurehead!

Expecting a private conversation with the president where we could present our views as representatives of youth and generally engage in an important dialogue, the meeting turned out to be more of a publicity stunt for the president who smiled agreeably for the cameras and said uncontroversial statements about the need for “the world to do more.”

Although the meeting was staged more so as a photo-opp than anything with real bite, it was a significant milestone to be allowed to meet with him and important in the promotion of the International Youth Climate Network, a global youth partnership in conception at COP13.

Of late, there has been a feeling of intense frustration within the youth caucus – while the fate of our world hangs on the line, negotiators and decision makers seem intent on creating innumerable obstacles to prevent progress in the negotiations.

Among others creating controversy, Japan threw a spanner [editor's note: that's a wrench for you yanks!] in the works of immense proportions when it announced that we must “move beyond Kyoto”, that is – to throw in the towel and take even bigger backward steps from saving our planet.

Amongst this bureaucracy, the youth have been attempting to maintain our hope and sense of empowerment. Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: Frustration and hope at COP13′

by Amanda McKenzie

Day 1 of the Bali conference was eventful, confusing, exciting, frustrating and a whole lot of other emotions rolled into one. While we all got lost finding where we were supposed to go for government delegation meetings, youth caucus meetings and plenaries, we all managed to eventually get ourselves into gear and learn a lot.

A major talking point of the day was Australia’s speech to the COP in which they announced that they will ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which was met with much applause. Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: Australia’s Climate Change Election’

The executive secretary of the UNFCCC, Yvo de Boer, is a particularly influential figure. But in his opening speech at the Bali conference, while advocating for strong action on climate change, there was one particularly worrying phrase that sent a ripple through the international crowd. “Fossil fuels are here to stay,” he said.

Uh-oh. This is definitely not a good sign!

Check out this video for some remarks he made at a press conference a few hours later:

My basic objection to his statements is thus: Fossil fuels have a lot of ‘C’ in them. When you burn them in ‘O2’, you end up with CO2. CO2 causes climate change. It’s a simple physical fact, and you can’t negotiate with the laws of physics.

Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: Fossil Fuels are NOT here to stay’

It’s now day 3 of the UNFCCC climate change conference, and we’re all still on our feet despite a lack of sleep and an overload of information. One thing that has been particularly interesting of late is the discussion around which targets we need to aim for to really address climate change. There are phrases floating around such as “as far below 2 degrees as possible” and “in order to avoid dangerous climate change” but is this enough? What do we need to actually save the planet?

We must draw a line in the sand, a threshold of global temperature increase that we should not cross. We must set a target in global emission reductions that gives us the best chance of averting climate disaster. While there is no global consensus on what this should be, it would be prudent to err on the side of caution and choose a stringent target that minimizes the risk of the worst climate impacts.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts this threshold at two degrees global warming. It is anticipated that this temperature increase would have catastrophic impacts on natural systems that support human life. To have a reasonable chance of preventing warming of 2 degrees requires global emissions to peak in 2015 and then be reduced globally by 50-80% by 2050.

Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: Finding the Right Targets to Avoid the Worst’

“Halo, halo” from Kuta Bali! The Australian Youth Climate Coalition has officially landed in beautiful Bali, Indonesia, on the verge of the steepest learning curves of our lives. We will attempt to navigate our way through 2 weeks of UN climate change negotiations at COP13, the conference where the Bali Mandate – that is, the future of our planet - will be decided upon. After months of phone-link-ups, the ‘AYCC Delegation to Bali’ finally came together for the first time 2 days ago. Still struggling to realign our perceptions of our phone-link-up friends with their actual physical selves, we are over the moon to finally be together. Now our adventure has officially begun – the team is together, we’ve traipsed through crowded market streets to find our little Kuta bungalows, and we’ve set up base camp on the roof top – equipped with lap tops, piles of documents and of course, insect repellent.

Today was our first taste of life as a youth delegate at the UNFCCC COP, as we, along with some of our new friends – the Canadian Youth Delegation, hosted the International Youth Conference at Harris Resort in Kuta. We met the 70 delegates brought together from Indonesia, the US (a huge contingent), Japan, the Philippines, Denmark, Germany, Canada (another huge contingent) and Singapore. The conference vibe was incredibly positive and energising.

Along with youth from many other countries, we have set up various ‘working groups’ to follow up different aspects of the conference, such as media, creative actions, policy, international networking, etc.
We are incredibly excited and hopeful about our first day at the UNFCCC meeting on Monday - we don’t know what’s in store but it will sure be interesting!

Follow our delegation at: www.baliblog.org