Tom Youngman

Communicating the Challenge is the Challenge: Looking Back on the UN climate talks in Durban

Three weeks ago, I made this video. I was exhausted, husky and, if I’m honest, disheartened. I’d just spent two weeks at the United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa. They were the best weeks of my life, but that it’s taken me until now to write something about it says it all.

I applied to be on the UK Youth Climate Coalition’s delegation to the UN (pictured, right) in April. When I heard the news of my selection, that in seven months time I would be at the UN, attempting to make change on a truly daunting scale, I was staying with an exchange family in rural Spain. My immediate challenge was explaining what this meant in my second language to people with little knowledge or interest in climate change. Although they were sympathetic, I’m not sure my host family really understood what I meant - but they did let me use their computer for my first delegation Skype calls.

Returning from Durban, I’ve found myself clasping helplessly at words out of my reach when asked the question “how was South Africa?” to the extent I did when trying to explain my excitement in Spanish back in April. If I’m honest, I’ve found it hard to reconnect with my friends back home. It’s not about the people, it’s about the purpose. I’d spent two weeks with a clear aim, working with groups of peers with a shared goal and more than enough enthusiasm to make up for our lack of agency or resources. I planned my days at 8:30am and often didn’t finish work until 2:00am. It was ridiculous, but it was glorious.

I think the bizarre experiences are what convey the wonder of it best. I met the Bolivian Minister for the Environment at 3:00am, me wearing no socks and shoes, and chatted to him in Spanish. I played a rather fun game called ‘Ninja’ with a very senior British diplomat. I attempted to get on the 10 o’clock news by offering a man tinsel. I shouted the loudest I’ve ever shouted (video, rally inside conference centre pictured, left - can you spot me?) - and was echoed by hundreds of others - inside the conference centre.

But after all that, the conference did not deliver a solution. In the video I recorded three weeks ago today, I was downtrodden. That was justified. The way the decisions were made was fast, closed and undemocratic. Documents were released and agreed faster than we could get to the Documents Counter to collect them, let alone read them. This was not the open, consensus process the UNFCCC (the part of the UN that deals with climate change) likes to claim it is. This was old-fashioned, closed-door diplomacy. If that was an effective way of delivering a solution, I’d be happy, but it isn’t. It left decisions till the eleventh (if only it was that early….) hour and gave poorer nations no input whatsoever. Let’s be frank, what we have on the table now is shit. But it could be worse, we could have nothing. One day, some flowers could use this shit to grow.

I’ll take most not from the conference, but from the people I’ve met. I’ve met people of character far beyond the leaders attending the talks. Young people have spent months preparing off their own back, and most, like me, have funded themselves, running events and raffles and seeking support from their families, friends and communities. No politician did that to attend this conference. No politician can speak with the conviction of any of the young people that went to COP17.

So where am I now? I have emerged from what I can only define as a great struggle for me, and I’ve emerged stronger. It is now 2012. As I start a new year, it is not about finding a new challenge, but about finding away to continue the old one, and use the skills, connections and experience I have built. For me, this year is about action at home, using knowledge from outside in the context I know best. It’s about using that to inspire others to do the same in their communities.

So what do I think you should take from this? I don’t know. Open yourself up to all challenges. Discover what you’re passionate about and pursue it further than anyone ever imagined it could be pursued. Ultimately, don’t let me patronise you. This is my story, for now. I look forward to reading yours.

I went to Durban with the UK Youth Climate Change Coalition (UKYCC) - see our delegation’s blog here. I was kindly supported by many friends, family members, local businesses and by my local community - you can see a full list here. To see photos of the trip, visit my own Flickr page or the UKYCC flickr page.

Tom at the UN: Update #1 (Preparations!)

Hello!

I’m heading out to Durban, South Africa for the UN climate change negotiations in just four days time! Here’s some stories and videos about the hopes and expectations from different quarters. I’ll be sending out four or so updates like these over the course of the conference: contact me if you’d like to be added to my mailing list.

In this update:

• Our reflections after our final training weekend
• Introduction to the UN climate change process
• How to follow the negotiations
• New study shows links between climate change and extreme weather
• Durban Dares
• How to follow the UKYCC delegation

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UK Youth Delegation - final training weekend and hopes and expectations

On 12 and 13 November we held our final training weekend down in London. Check out this video of our final thoughts about the coming weeks.

Still confused or want to follow the negotiations for yourself?

If you’re still a little confused by what the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is all about, then earlier in the year Kristina from the delegation did an excellent blog for those unacquainted with the weird and wonderful world of the UN climate talks.

Click ‘read more’ to see this update in full…

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Thank you

As many of you will know, I’ll be heading out to the United Nations climate change negotiations in Durban next month to press negotiators for a fair, ambitious treaty that represents the interests of young people. I’m attending as part of a delegation with the UK Youth Climate Coalition, and you can find out more on our website.

Many people and organisations have been very generous in supporting me financially. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank them and have created this page on which they are recognised.

If you would like to donate to myself, the delegation as a whole, or our partner delegation from Kenya, your support would be greatly appreciated. You can donate here.

UKYCC Blog: What the FCCC!? Annex-tra thing to remember

Rather less exciting than my last publication, this time it’s a little piece explaining what the phrases ‘Annex 1’, ‘Annex 2’ and ‘Non-Annex 1’ mean when mentioned (as they often are) at UN climate change negotiations. Covers more interesting issue than it sounds like from that - historic emissions and responsibility for climate change, trade-offs between carbon cuts and development and the changing role of ‘BRIC’ nations such as India and China.

Extract:

One of the trickiest areas of climate change negotiation in the United Nations is differentiating between ‘developed’ and ‘less developed’ countries. The ‘historic emissions‘ of greenhouse gases by countries such as the UK, USA and Germany allowed them to reach the high level of development and wealth that they now enjoy. Less developed countries are unsurprisingly reluctant to pass up opportunities for development and improvements in well-being in the name of carbon emission reduction, especially when the historic emitters are still the largest per person polluters.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) made sure this was accounted for when it came into force in 1994, dividing countries into two sections: Annex I and Annex II. The Annexes divide countries into groups based on how responsible they are for climate change and how able they are to reduce global emissions. The forty Annex I countries are ‘developed’ economies and economies ‘in transition’; Annex II is a subgroup made up of twenty-three developed economies.

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Click here to read the full article.

Helen Markides and others: Climate Change in the Curriculum

Some of you may have seen the Guardian frontpage article about removal of climate change from the national curriculum earlier this month. Helen Markides, a fellow member of the UK Youth Climate Coalition delegation to COP17, wrote this fantastic blog post (with input from myself and others) on the UKYCC site regarding it.

In many ways this is about much more than climate change – this is about the principles of fairness and sustainability which lie behind concern about climate change. A broader, sustainable education is essential – something instilled throughout a school’s operating ethos. This is already happening in many schools – largely through the ‘Eco-Schools’ program – where pupils and staff work together to create a sustainable environment for education, whether through setting up recycling schemes, caring for the school grounds or improving participation in decision making. If taught in a way which engages young people then sustainability and climate change actually presents an opportunity, providing the incentive for communities to work together, for young people to gain citizenship, and become empowered by taking change in their local environment. Government should take its cue from schools like these, not from Oates’s misleading and damaging advice.

If you wish to read the full article, click here.