China Youth COP15 - No Other Way

Reflection on COP15 (by Rui Wang)

2009-12-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

It is nearly one week since I came back from Copenhagen. From the media reports on the conference results at home and abroad, there are some positive news but much more negative ones. Now, I will say my reflection on COP15.

About Negotiation

Before I went to Copenhagen, I was told that the negotiation might not reach an agreement, but it would not affect my passion for it. Instead, I was full of eagerness for the Climate Conference which was regarded as a significant event in history. However, I found it more complicated than what I had expected on arriving there. In the first two days, there was no conflict in the conference; while on the 3^rd day, Tuvalu jumped out to advocate tearing up the Kyoto Protocol and moreover working out a more radical and valid document. Tuvalu’s suggestion soon got the support from many developed countries but at the same time met with the opposition from a lot of developing countries. The fuse ignited the whole assembly hall and the conflicts suddenly became fiercer. In the following days, the developed countries were fighting against the developing countries; Oriental countries were struggling against the Occident countries; and the island countries were crying over being flooded… The political farces were put on one by one… Then, the Ministers from different countries and decision-makers came here successively. Denmark government almost blocked the Bella Centre, so many NGOs could not enter the hall. With the strong dissatisfaction with Denmark government, NGOs organized large scaled march and the police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. Then, it came to the final situation that various countries were secretly competing with each other inside and the police and the crowd were locked in fierce struggle outside the Bella Centre.

Facing the disordered situation, I did not know which word would be the perfect one describing my mood. At that moment, I realized that the climate conference had developed to a competing game on politics and economics instead of a simple negotiation about the climate change and the global warming. It was just like the dirty footprints on the white snow.

Seen and Heard

Although felt bitterly disappointed with the negotiation, I was moved by the passion of NGO and deeply impressed by their march on Dec. 12th. Tens of thousands of people were parading by holding banners and shouting slogans despite the coldness that day. Among them, the most impressive one was the slogan that “There is no planet B.” Deeply touched by the slogan, I realized the indisputable fact that the earth is the only homeland for our human beings.

Besides, another exciting thing was the chance to meet with Robert Swan, the first man in the world reaching both the South and North Pole. I was overawed and moved by his persistence in the dream and his devotion for the environmental protection. By spending nearly 10 years, he tried to collect money to realize the dream of crossing the Antarctic; for 7 times, he took the cargo ships to the Arctic to clear away the rubbish left by other countries… Not merely realizing his own life value, he created chances for others to realize theirs. With his own stories, he inspired the ambitious young people all over the world who had the same dream. “Every step you take is a story. You must build your story.” This is the word he told me. I believe that it will encourage and accompany me to realize my dream that “I will be an international environmentalist no matter what kind of job I will take in the future.”

Reflection

As a common high school student in China, I do not really understand the complicated political issues but I would view the climate negotiation from a neutral perspective. To my delight, I have seen a great many young people are willing to devote themselves with the close concern for the climate change despite different nationalities. At the same time, I have heard some indifferent and even opposed voices. In my opinion, the knowledge of climate change is still need to be popularized and more people should realize the urgency of global warming.

Every day, we are told that each one of us should participate in the environmental protection, start with small things and influence the people around. It cannot be denied that it is very important, but the more important thing is the participation of different governments, whose force is much more powerful than ours. If there is only the participation from our individuals with the government looking on coldly, we can imagine how miserable the future would be. I think this is my reflection on the conference from the bottom of my heart.

Drops during COP 15 by Yiting Wang

2009-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

In the wake of Wednesday 16th riot, the police had pushed back the crowd. I was walking toward Bella Center trying to get in, a guy with a little video camera stopped me and sked me to say a little sth about what I think the solution [to our climate crisis] was. I replied, in gasps, that I think we need to put ourselves in each other’s shoes. We need to understand that we are one people in different forms;our lives connected. He asked me where I was from. I said China. He waved one of his hand whiling the other still holding the camera, “thanks for the Chinese wisdom.”

I don’t know if it is particularly Chinese. I just always remember a peacemaking guru who only sleeps for four hours everyday, once said that we are all one. I just cannot agree more.

Thursday, 17th. The banner says “change the system, not the climate.” It was in a warehouse that turned into a working station for people who can no longer enter Bella Center. Mekel was delivering a speech within Bella Center. Heads from the governments of the world was doing that one by one. I had no interest in listening. I thought they were all to symbolic and not constructive at all. I realize how hard it was to reach an agreement when at least a few of the big potatoes did not have the sincerity and bona fide; how hard it was to really change the system.

Tuesday 15th. Robert Swan giving a speech about his expeditions to both Poles. He was the first man to traverse both Arctic and Antarctic by foot. He is now taking young folks to visit an eco-base he set up in Antarctic each year. He ended the presentation with one quote from himself (pretty snobby I have to say): the greatest challenge to our climate crisis is that we think someone else will do the job.

Monday 14th. I was representing our team to discuss possible venues for youth from the States, India, Japen and China to get together to deliver a joint voice. It proved to be politically difficult as well. First, the Japanese counterparts did not show up. Second, the day after that most of us would not be able to get into Bella Center. Third, the Indians want to have the Indian and Chinese youth talking to Indian and Chinese delegates, in one room, pushing our government and stand closely by the island/African countries (to kill Kyoto and have sth more radical—which was strongly disapproved by both governments).

While sitting on the floor in the absence of wine, we ignored the first obstacle and went crazy with the second one. Reed the American guy proposed that we use radio transmitters to deliver youth voice inside from outside. He said he knew a friend in Copenhagen who invented the bike system(or sth like that) who might have access to such devices. He admitted, very seriously, this idea was crazy but he can always do what he wanted to do without too much idea of how to do it. I proposed what I thought would be fun but less risky – having youth inside holding their computers in a circle, skyping in with youth outside and saying what they want with both voices and images. We all agreed and thought hard of places outside where we had wireless. Later another Indian Friend Linkesh joined and showed us a song he just wrote about Bolivia and their brave commitment as a developing country. We all sang together in a circle:

/Every day their stalling and//they’re saying the same old things again//hm-hm-hm//But one bright country stands apart,//they’re sayin’ things close to my heart.//They’ve got a plan with hope in hand,//They’re sayin’ c’mon let’s just start…//Bolivia//, I wish I was Bolivian//Just one degree temperature rise,//300 ppm in the skies,//cent per-cent emissions down by two thousand forty//Does anyone know the price of waiting//fighting, hating, procrastinating,//hm-hm-hm//My future stands in front of me,// while people here make history,//I hope and pray that it will be,//what the world’s children wish to see…//Bolivia//…//We’ve got to take the boldest steps//there’s work to do; clean up the mess.//hm-hm-hm//My future looks me in the eye,//says to me the time is nigh//It’s time to see the world agree,//time for responsibility!//Bolivia//…/

We dismissed in the urgency of going to the US-China youth joint press release. There was almost no follow-up after that, except I invited the Indian friends to come to a dinner that was just meant for the Chinese team. I will talk about that in a second.

Thursday 16th. This dinner was just intended for the Chinese team and the Danish organization Energy Crossroads who gave us the chance to participate in COP 15.One team member had a very clever comment on this dinner, which in the end was joined by the Indians and Africans (sorry I had to use the general term, I did not know where in Africa they came from)—when the old generation used “Pingpong Diplomacy” to break the ice between China and the U.S. during the Cold War, we the younger ones used “Chinese food diplomacy.” I dont think it was our intention to have any diplomacy. It was just a very natural gesture for us to invite friends from afar that happened to have chance to gather on the land of fairy tales. If, just a naive thought, everyone in this world could be as native as the the young ones, we probably would have maintained better harmony.

One thing I maintained after COP 15, however disillusioned it could be, is to stay ideal, stubbornly ideal, passionately ideal, naively ideal. With vision and intention, things can be done.

Yes the adults will always tell us “it is more complicated than you can understand.” We should be aware not to grow up with unnecessary sophistication that gets simple things complicated.

Update from the frontline (by Lina Li)

2009-12-17T06:43:00.001-08:00

11.31 am Bella Center NGO Booth

The COP today started on time at 10am. The "excellencies" have been giving speeches one by one. I am a bit "tired" somehow of hearing the fancy words again and again, so I walked out of the TV place. I shouldn't have left my coat at the cloak room, because it is getting cold here in the Bella Centre. The whole NGO booth area is as bleak as an abandoned village,deadly quiet. All the side events inside Bella Centre are cancelled too, because most of the audience are normally NGO representatives. Today, only 300 NGO people with the yellow badge are allowed to enter the Bella Centre.

Here's something I've noted down from the high level element:

"We are given by history this opportunitiy to react, to act for our children and grandchildern and those to come, to act on the planet itself.

People from around the world will judge us as individuals , for what we say, what we do and fail to do.

We developed world hold historical reponsibility, but if developing countries don't act now, more than half of the growth of GHG from now till 2050 wil be from emerging developing countries and it wil result in more than 2 degree .

This is a grand bargin between past and future, between developed and deevloping countries.

The common abmition is 450ppm,

It is the legal responsibilities of all parties.

A 6 year old Gracy wrote to me "how old ar you? you need to listen to us- make strong deal coz it's about our future." The children all ove the world are watching us. History will judge."

- Mr. Kevin M. Rudd Australia Prime Minister,

For all of us and all our hildern, there is no greater national interest than the future of the planet.

- Mr. Gordon Brown, UK PM

I hope they are serious and sincere...we will see when the real negotionas resume...

NGO, are we the lowest of the low? (by Xixi Sun)

2009-12-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

NGO, are we the lowest of the low?

By Xixi Sun

Wednesday afternoon 3.30pm. Bella Centre. Outside Plenary Tycho Brahe.

Everyone was waiting to get back in. 20 minutes ago we were told that we had to all leave the plenary for a security check before the high-level segment starts again. I have double-checked with the security if NGO passes are allowed to get back in and they said YES. I was the very few (if not the only one) among our delegation team that has a NGO pass for the plenary and I wanted to be at least be in there to represent China youth.

It turned out that we were fooled. “No NGOs are allowed into the plenary!” As the government delegates lined up in front of the door, the NGOs were stopped and turned away.

I do not remember if the same official has given me the different messages. He might have consulted with senior officials and got the latest update on security information, which was NO NGOs whatsoever (instead of limited number of NGOs in plenary). At the same time I was told that the Bella Centre was closed to NGOs now even if they have secondary passes. Before I got some time to figure out what was going on, I got another update from outside Bella Centre – the climate protesters today have been put down by police force using pepper spray. When I saw the pictures of people holding banners and flags, falling into mud on the ground, shouting silently, my feelings were hard to describe. The president of Venezuela, H.E. Hugo Chavez Frias, has said in the high level element this morning that the young people out there on the street should have our respect. They were protesting on the streets, some of whom were arrested by police.

The future belongs to the young generation, who has been marching in rain, in snow, in front of military troops, just to have their voices heard. I am one of them. We are them. But as young people, as NGO, we are not being treated in a fair way. The UNFCCC wants to keep all NGOs out of Bella Centre for Thursday and Friday, and after long negotiation it has been pushed to 300 tickets for NGOs. They are depriving our right to observe the historical moment which will determine our life in 2020, 2030 and 2050. They have silenced us in the Bella Centre by keeping us out. For the past week in Bella Centre, I felt that this is probably the only international event that I did not have to get information through media. We hope that the youth back at home can gain our insights from the youth’s prospective instead of the media alone, but now we can no longer do it.

To conclude, I strongly feel that we as NGOs and young people have been pushed around, and our voice to push for a fair, ambitious and legally-binding deal in COP15 has not been taken by the decision-makers. I admit that in the capitalist world, we cannot possibly have the same amount of power as the other stakeholders, such as the businesses, because we do not have the money and we cannot provide immediate interests and benefits for making relevant moves. But we will not give up. Our colleagues are still peacefully sitting in and waiting for a FAB (fair, ambitious and legally-binding) deal. It might take considerable amount of time. But we can be bothered to sit here all this time for the real deal, because we do not want to spend the rest of our life facing devastating consequences of climate change when it is too late to fix things.

Red Flag Up, off the peak of today's demonstration (by Yiting Wang)

2009-12-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

Just follow my pictures of my day today. It was supposed to be the last day NG

Os can get into Bella Center. I was to enter around 1 o'clock to atten an side event on women as agent of change. I knew something would be going on outside Bella around noonish, somthing big and heavy. I went anyway, despite that my colleague who I was taking the secondary pass from, called me not to as she was almost pushed into the river outside the entrance in the demonstration crowd. Why not come? Despite the heavy snow, if the world is burning, I am burning with it.

At metro station, the sign said "demonstration is ongoing." The train did not stop at Bella Center anymore. I had to walk one more stop.

A Beijing based film producers was shooting a documentary about China's role in climate change. He was following two folks from the National Reform and Development Committee. He just included me all along in his filming asking me to talk about my state of mind--why I am here in Copenhagen, why I am going to the Bella Center knowing the fact there is a demonstration, etc.It was my first time jumble along in front a video camera. I spoke very fast, in bad English. I was cold and hungry.

NGOs outside Bella Center shot at the Middle East folks to go back home and quite oil. I don't know if they are the solution. But people were angry.

There was drumming behind the the politi cars, the whole road was blocked.

Standing quietly, cold and hungry, I waited outside the entrance for almost an hour. The police had not let single one NGO in. I was about to leave and the English film maker called me to wait for him for a few more filming and questions.

Meanwhile, I took pictures of a group of vegan/vegetarian advocates. They have been here everyday since the start of the conference, morning to evening. They handle out flax bags that say go veggie and videos of all sorts of celebrities talking about when they went veg-- and scientists like James Hanson on why.
Despite the TV screen, they are a quiet group, composing mostly of Asian women, sometimes dressed in animal customs. I decided to include them in my blog today, as in violence and chaos, they offered us peace and elevation.

Well I had to mention them.

This also spoke to me as my frustration of not being able to have much vegetarian meal choice during my days here has reached to a point of intolerance. Within Bella Center, the only veggie choice is salad (sometimes they provide cheese which I dont like) and ocasionally you have cold egg or humus sandwich. In Burger King, only one veggie burger with only veggie in it, no protein. In a Chinese restaurant takeout, they only have veggie fried spring roll as your veggie option. No protein. And I have not seen tofu anywhere. Yes cheese, but usually with meat. I am not a pure vegetarian; I eat fish. I'd have left with cheese and very expensive nuts here as my alternative. I was told you got understand this is northern Europe.

I am for one time, proud of where I am in the U.S., when we are provided with many vegetarian options (regardless the heavy marketing of soil products led by the soil plantation industry). Meanwhile meat consumption is soaring in China, reaching 53 gram per day in 2005. Yet it is small compared to 70-130 g/day in developed countries. But China is by far the largest meat producer in the world (China Daily). Folks at home are all rather concerned about me not eating meat rather than limited fish. I find it hard to prove to them my energetic and clear-head (or maybe despite my forgetfulness of personal belongings) spirit and healthy happy being.

The last battle of NGO

2009-12-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

The 16^th. It was supposed to be the last day NGOs can get into Bella Center. Under what appeared to be the dead calm, a new round of demonstration and battle cry was undergoing.

I was able to get into Bella Center rather smoothly in the morning. It was much more organized and cleaned up. I was waiting for the broadcasting of the negotiation meeting in front of the monitor, but the “meeting is about to begin” sign had not been updated in an hour. I then decided to get out to record the final campaign of the China Youth Delegation.

I walked out of Bella Center, following a group of young people shouting “Reclaim the Power” and surrounded by cameras and journalists. Our campaign team was already broken up in the crowd and could not proceed.

We were supposed to have our “wish tree” campaign, inviting people to write up their climate wishes and put it up on the tree. Obviously, people can no longer be satisfied with this type of mild and even poetic way of expressing. The angry crowd converged in turbulent floods, their voices louder than the overhead helicopter: “reclaim the power”, “climate justice.” The three Deaths in blue, red and yellow were waving in freezing wind, coupled with the ever-heavier snow.

The crowd was marching toward the police; the anger seemed to be out of control. I found myself jammed in the middle while filming my surroundings. The crowd had come face to face with the police.

The police was pushing us backward, and yet I found no way to retreat. Someone shout “Don’t push anymore. We are going back!” Yet more people became even angrier, crying “You don’t have the right to do so!”, “This is the same for democracy.” I panicked, as 3 or 4 meters right behind me there was a pond. If the police was to push further, I was going to fall. Although I got used to the face-to-face jostle in the subway in Beijing during peak hours, I was rather fearful, not knowing if the out-of-control crowd would seduce any further moves from the police.

As I was afraid, the police started to spread paper. Some people fell. First aid folks appeared out of nowhere with water and cleaning spread. The white foam was running down from their eyes.

I was finally freed up. I retreated with people surrounding me along the bank of the pond. Most of the people were young and there were quite a few middle- and old-aged folks. Some started drumming and dancing. Some even put down a draft boat on the pond outside Bella Center, attempting to take over the center. Yet they were already in a dead lock by the police.

Smoke was coming out of two stacks in the far away place. The helicopter was hovering overhead. The police had started arresting people. Any spark could lead to the fire.

RECLAIM POWER.

If equipped with their own army, the crowd might have taken over Bella Center and stood in front of the defeated negotiators and heads of the states.

Wind storm had frozen me up. Bella Center no longer let in NGOs. I left the guard zone under the police’s instruction. I bought a hot chocolate, and walked to one more stop away from Bella Center. Police cars kept on driving toward there. One COP 15 bus drove by; it said on the bus:

RAISE YOUR VOICE.

Frustration (by Hanna Helsingen)

2009-12-16T06:35:00.000-08:00

Bella Center is now different. With the high-level segment arriving, ministers are spotted everywhere. With entering the ninth day of negotiations, the time pressure is bigger than ever before. With delays of plenaries and even a move of the COP meeting, parties are frustrated and they are not alone. When entering the plenary hall this morning, tables were full of empty bottles and trash, showing that negotiators had been here all night, some going home at 07:00 this morning. In the AWG-KP

Lena Helsingen dec 16, '09, 12:32 em

meeting last night, the President of that group, John Ashe (Antigua and Bermuda) tried to explain to parties that they have to present a draft to the high-level segment. Brazil, India, Algeria and many others explained that they cannot present anything, because they don’t have anything to present. Some parts of the draft are even left blank. Only one word to explain the setting of that meeting: FRUSTRATION.

Being a problem with the scheduling of the COP meeting that should had taken place at 10 AM, but was left out, there is now a question wheather they will proceed with the high-level segment or if they will discuss these isssues further. The President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, pointed out that time doesn’t permit these points of order, they must proceed with negotiations. The danish prime minister, the president of that meeting said, that they understand the points of orders and they will take them into considerations, but they have to proceed with the programme. We’ll see what happens during the day. The clock is ticking.

Copenhagen Week 2 - heat and chill (by Scully Meng)

2009-12-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

After a dramatic parade with hundred thousand people and the police and helicopters over the weekend, after the informal negotiations between ministers of different nations, after the influential talks from religious leaders, the second week of COP15 has started.

Something unexpected happened first thing in the morning. The queue for entering Bella Centre has been stopped due to a fault in the security inspection equipment. The people has been waiting outside at a temperature of 1 degree in wind. We did not manage to get on the COP15 bus at 8 30am and it was already 9am when we arrived at Bella Centre. The queue has reached the subway station, with an approximate width of 5m and length of 100m. The entrants were equally treated no matter the type of your passes. Thai officials tried to negotiate with the security but could not get through. The other ministers had to follow the queue too. An American professor behind us has been complaining: "It is a good thing for youth to come in here and learn, but under present conditions, it is ridiculous to have the kids in the Centre and someone really relevant to the negotiations kept out here."

This week, as the senior officials arrive with heads of nations, new passes have been issued for entrance to Bella Centre. This is to limit the number of entrances and ease the chaos in front of Bella Centre, under the condition that their security check equipment will not fail again and again.

Chinese government delegation meeting with over 30 Chinese youth (by Ning Wang)

2009-12-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

Negotiation won’t take a break and delegates can't enjoy Copenhagen’s sunshine as the crowded troops in climate demonstration did. Without banners, without slogan, China government delegation holds a unique meeting with over 30 Chinese youth. The event was held in the same venue as daily news briefing’s-China Information and Communication Center (CICC). As the representative of China’s official government delegation, three distinguished guests* were invited to this first ever formal communication between “China leaders” and “China future leaders”.
Young people showed good insight into the climate talk and special eagerness to understand China’s situation in the negotiation. The initial problem focused on China’s standpoint towards KP and LCA approaches. “Some developed countries exhaust their ideas to blur the distinction between developing countries so that they could jump out of the restriction of historical responsibility” Prof. He Jiankun proposed. The major conflict is G77 and China will defend the KP while without the restriction to US, other umbrella group members are ready to jump out it at any time and EU’s promise to keep the target will be meaningless when all the members have gone. [The outcome verified the conflict that G77 walked out the LCA plenary and declared them will be back only if the KP restarted and reached an acceptable result.] In term of “finance”, Jiankun emphasized that the future is not decided by who provide the money. African groups’ action slogan could describe the mechanism appropriately- “Rich Countries Pay the Climate Debt”.
Following the basic standpoint of China, youth negotiation observer mentioned sensitive words from Sudan representative on Friday’s G77 briefing moment. In response, Ms. Chao and Prof. He critically evaluated this statement. 350 ppm and 1.5 degree were good expectation, in a better word-wish. China does hope entire human being could take action now and make effort to retard climate change, but this target is unrealistic at this point. In Prof. He’s point of view, China’s target is ambitious enough. The low carbon economy is not only an attractive name but very expensive. Tens of trillions of foregone cost will be added to fulfill China’s climate commitment. REDD is excluded to the total promised number which means 40~45% might still underestimate China’s reduction goal. According to China’s calculation of leading developed group, United States only promised an insignificant target of 32% carbon intensity reduction when adopting China’s framework.
Youth people raised a question based on civil society’s observation that some NGO recently summarized all developed countries carbon reduction commitments in a single table and intend to conduct a side by side comparison across different groups where all countries were following BAU only except China and India. Ms. Chao and Prof. He expressed opinions to multi-countries comparison from both negotiator and technical expert’s angles. Some arguments have been made that India and China’s commitment is tricky since not following BAU. However, considering the high speed of clean technology substitution and a larger room for energy efficiency enhancement, the BAU of developing countries will take a more dramatic decrease than the developed group. Hence, BAU can make the commitment number small but less comparable across developing and developed countries.
As an ending of the conversation, government delegation indicated young people are the future of the country and youth have comparative advantage to bring the encouraging information and ideas back to China and spread to the public. Increasing number of young people is expected to devote themselves to the development of low carbon economy. Also, long term cooperation in youth globally should be initiated.
As a member of China youth delegation, I would say: Chinese youth lag behind in climate change action at first, but as the significant progress our country has made - we caught up soon. There were only 2 Chinese youth in Poznan last year, which was super tiny delegation compared to over 100 US students. Enthusiasm for climate action gathered 40 Chinese students from Mainland China, HK, Britain and States to Denmark. To date, it was only one month since the first proposal of this delegation has been organized. We, Chinese youth, should take the future responsibility in climate change and build up the leadership in global environment. We are ready to devote ourselves to either industry or government to fulfill China’s ambitious commitment in following decades. So we proudly deliver us to Copenhagen as “China Youth Delegation”.
* Ms. Chao Qingchen from China negotiation group, vice director of technology and climate change bureau of China meteorological administration; Chinese chief climate policy specialist Professor He Jiankun, the director of Tsinghua Low carbon energy laboratory; China climate change science specialist Prof. Luo Yong, director of climate change center of China meteorological administration.

High-level Youth Briefing with Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC Chairman （By Xixi Sun)

2009-12-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Dr Pachauri is the chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. At the beginning of this youth briefing, he started by saying that youth can bring change to the world. He said that we cannot possibly ignore what is happening around us. Scientific evidence proves that most warming in the past 50 years is most likely to be caused by human activities, and more details can be found from the 4th IPCC report.

IPCC has been seen as the “supreme body in science” and the “fountain of knowledge”. These big names have been challenged by its “enemies” and the leakage of emails has been under attack. Dr Pachauri emphasised that none of the illegally stolen emails were able to find its way into the IPCC 4th report and explained the IPCC assessment process a bit more. At every stage, the draft will be reviewed by a team and each comment will be addressed by authors directly. All governments will need to approve the report word by word, so there is no way that the report can be produced/supported by individuals. The robustness of the process ensures that nothing will be put down unless there is clear scientific evidence supporting it.

Dr Pachauri has mentioned that the costs of taking actions against climate change are in fact very low. With investment, the stability of agricultural production which is of vital importance will be improved, as well as higher food security.

At the end of his 5 minutes speech, he talked about how youth is associated with hope and idealism. He said that whenever there is a conflict in schedule between a youth-related event and some other events, he would always ignore the others and come to see the youth. As youth we are very delighted to hear that and we hope we can make our efforts to pass on our hope and idealism to the decision makers to foster change.

There have been a number of interesting questions coming from the audience. A youth representative from Singapore asked how much impact do youth have on negotiations. Dr Pachauri answered that the only way we get results is through grass root actions. As youth, we should take the messages from COP back home and carry on with our work back there. Copenhagen is not the end of world. There are more work that needs to be done. After all, our life extends beyond their next generations and we should drive for change.

Kenya youth mentioned the people who deny the work and efforts of youth and the criticisms and sarcasm. We were reminded that whenever new knowledge comes up, there will always be people rejecting it and since it is going to affect everything where people are making huge profits, there will be nasty comments coming up, meaning that they are taking exact notice.

This youth briefing has been very encouraging for us to hear and we sincerely hope that other decision makers can also listen to the voice of youth, the voice from the future and make changes, give us the real deal at COP15 that’s necessary for a sustainable, low carbon future.

9 December 2009 CMP without KP （by Scully Meng)

2009-12-14T04:04:00.000-08:00

Deputy Chief Negotiator Su Wei said he was discontent, and he expressed his concerns in the meeting. Not only that Chinese officer was blocked outside Bella Centre for various times, but that the organizer of CMP did not put the logo of Kyoto Protocol in the conference. It was a clear conspiracy to abandon KP.

Whether to abandon KP was an issue haunting over the developed and developing countries during the conference, and heated debates were ongoing. Su Wei said, “Does it mean that CMP5 does not exist?”

President Hedegaard, embarrassed, said the logo had been published for several weeks but no problem was found till now…

“CMP 5” re-appear the next day.

Marching ahead, because there is 'No Planet B' (by Si Tingting)

2009-12-14T03:38:00.000-08:00

COPENHAGEN: Coming from a country which had held the Olympic Games and has the world's most crowded train station, I had seen a crowd of over 100,000 people several times in my life, but never such an exciting crowd as the one I saw at the Climate March in Copenhagen on Saturday.

An estimated 100,000 environmental activists representing 515 environmental NGOs from 67 countries descended on downtown Copenhagen to call for "climate justice".

The demonstration began at 1 pm and people marched for 4 kilometers from downtown to the conference center. Although my mobility was confined by the huge crowd for a long time and I was too far away from the celebrity speakers at the center stage, I was not at all bored. I was surrounded by music, hot dances, inflatable snowmen and people dressed as dinosaurs, pandas and polar bears, and most of all, flashy banners with really smartly coined slogans.

While many people shouted out slogans, a lot more spread the message with the global language: music - Afro, dub reggae, funk, indie, salsa and more. A shabbily-equipped band, with a dozen people armed with whistles, drums, steel pipes and flutes, had together worked out the most motivating tune I have ever heard. There were also people blowing the battle horn to say "the war on climate change is on".

I couldn't say that I met the oldest protester in my life at Saturday's demonstration, but I definitely met the youngest one. Nine-month-old little Hakki, who lay flat in his stroller, busily looked up and down, checked left to right at the dramatic demonstrators around him. His spokesperson, his father, told me he wanted the kid to be an eyewitness to the biggest demonstration in most Danish people's memory because "it matters to his future."

Above all the fancy background and the cries of too many voices, one message cannot possibly be heard.

Climate negotiators! Stop the "bla bla bla" and make immediate progress to achieve "a real deal" because there is "no planet B" - those were the most widely seen messages on thousands of banners.

However, there are still groups here asking for the rights for people in developing nations to look up to the lifestyle of those in developed countries and the rights for developed nations to continue with business as usual.

The presence of these groups put me into deep thought, as I heard the heart-wrenching stories in the past week from people from small islands such as the Maldives and Fiji.

These countries are experiencing rises in ocean levels, more hurricanes and increased tropical epidemics like dengue fever and malaria. Their people will be most disappointed if a dealis not delivered at the end of the conference.

Right now, there is such a disparity between the climate proposals that different nations have brought to the negotiating table, it may be impossible for anything to happen in the coming week but more dialogues in the future.

But people that are most vulnerable to climate change can wait no longer for more dialogues and the world should stop spending so much time and money to achieve a watered-down climate deal.

I finally decided to leave the so-far most exciting event of the Copenhagen climate conference after I heard two gunshot-like "bangs" and the ensuing sirens after two hours of march. I was afraid something ugly might turn up that day.

Later I learned from the news that the climate march turned violent when a group of protesters, dressed in black and faces covered in masks, shot fireworks at police officers guarding the Foreign Ministry.

Future Generation Day (by Li Li)

2009-12-14T00:57:00.000-08:00

UNFCCC approved YOUNGO (a youth constituency under UNFCCC) in COP 15. Two focal points were elected as the major liaisons. One is the China Youth COP 15 member Li Lina and the other is from a Singapore youth NGO. Any youth activities will be submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat through them.

Yesterday was also the Future generation Day. Youth hosted all sorts of demonstrations and activities within Bella Center.

This is the shirt that everyone in the Bella Centre is wearing to symbolise the Future Generation Day.

China-US Youth workshop at University of Copenhagen

This is a call to the Japanese Government for taking actions.

This is what it looks like after 4days.

Copenhagen demonstration with hundred thousand people (by Marina Tse)

2009-12-14T00:29:00.000-08:00

On 12 December 2009, we gathered in Christianborg Slotsplads with the crowd.

It was the Global Day of Climate Action. Hundred thousand people in Copenhagen headed towards Bella Centre, urging the negotiators there to reach a satisfactory legally binding agreement to tackle climate change. Thousands of similar activities were held worldwide to echo the same message.

AND it was the first time we, the Chinese youth delegations, being part of the people.

You may doubt whether our action is of any meaning at all, since it does not seem to change anything. You may even criticize that it is a waste of money to come all the way to Copenhagen for the demonstration. Facing the doubts, I sometimes can do no more than keeping silent, not because I consider myself on the wrong side, but that I have a different perspective.

You know what? Before our departure, the organizer reminded us to enjoy the march, and not to forget the humour we have as youth.

Therefore, you see us holding the banner and shouting slogans. There were polar bears and Mr. Earth and penguins in the march. From time to time people sang and dance to cheer the crowd and encourage the progress of the march.

Each participant of the march came with his or her own messages and may have different perceptions. The organizations may stand on different position. However such differences did not forbid us to walk together with mutual support, since we share the same vision and common goal.

In the march, I saw passion and excitement, and may be some small complaints on the cold weather. But not fear, since it is derived from fear and desperation.

I maintain hope, not because of the progress of the negotiation, but that I realize how little the government represents the people and the powerful they—we—are. These demonstrators have done their work in cities where they are from to raise people’s awareness on climate change issues. Through them, I see the people-the ordinary people—who change their lifestyles for the planet. Every bit of the changes contributes to the fundamental change of society, though the people may not be aware of what they have achieved.

To many, the whole march is no more than a number. The demonstrators endeavouring to attract the world’s attention may be given only the space of a photo on the newspaper. We, the Chinese youth, is no more than a tiny part of the hundred thousand people, but forget not that the hundred thousand people are constituted by individuals.

The hundred thousand in Copenhagen, together with the demonstrators in other parts of the world, represent the grass-root power. Even though our effort may have little impact on the progress of the negotiations in the Bella Centre, we remind the world:

Despite the disheartening negotiation and politics surrounding climate change issues, we, as individuals, still have retained the power to make a better world.

China-US youth worship feeds trust (By Si Tingting)

2009-12-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

Many people who came to the China-US youth workshop yesterday may have come for the free food, but for the 120 Chinese and American youths who showed up, they all came back with much more food for thought.

This year, unprecedented large youth delegations from all over the world came to Copenhagen to pressure their governments to make the right decisions that will affect their future. Among them is a self-organized Chinese youth delegation of 40 people, supported partly by funding from Nike and Ford Foundation, who only asked the Chinese young people to have concrete conversations with their US counterparts in return. The US delegation, which has a much larger size of 350 students aged between 16 and 26, came largely on money made from bake sales and donations from their community.

After an five hour interaction on a wide range of topics such as why Copenhagen conference matters to them, their evaluation of the governments’ emission reduction targets and how would they pressure the government to take quick actions, the young people from both countries reached the consensus on a lot of issues and most importantly, they learned to establish trust and to understand each others’ difference, like in China, initiative in climate issues is top-down (from government to grassroots), while in the US, it’s bottom-up.

They vowed to lead their governments in more green initiatives and in establish trust, a cornerstone for future cooperation.

“I don’t think our governments trust each other, but we certainly have to trust each other,” Ben Wessel, a leading US youth delegate with SustainUS, an NGO of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the US.

The youth in Copenhagen from all of the world are talking about shifts in culture and priorities in values. “People of my generation began to realize that prosperity is not how big your houses or cars. In the US and many countries in West Europe, there is an idea of excess is a virtue and there is an idea we should reward those who use more of our resources. But our generation is ready to make their choices,” said Marcie Smith, a youth organizer from US. According to Smith, the 350-strong US team is ready to pressure the US congressional representatives and President Barack Obama when they arrived in Copenhagen and their network in US is currently doing many campaigns inside the country.

The Chinese delegates, which is largely comprised of Chinese college students majored in environment policy and environmental science, have so far organized a few campaigns inside the conference site to demonstrate the Chinese youths’ dedication in fighting climate change, like a drama-like Chinese traditional medical consultation on how to make earth healthier.

“I do think President Obama is listening to the young people, but the congressional reality from the US has made it very difficult to move forward,” Marcie Smith, who freshly graduated from college and is now learning how to grow her own food on an organic farm in stead of going to a graduate school.

“We need a fair, ambitious and binding treaty out of Copenhagen, as the reality is much dire than the scientists has initially predicted,” she said, “and part of that fairness is returning power to people.”

“A lot of things need to be reformed about how decisions are made in US. Like now, the people from the military and those with money are having a bigger say in decision-making, but young people are craving to have a say in the policy that will shape their future.”

Here in Copenhagen, Smith met a lot of people from Zambia and Nepal who are suffering from climate change. But back in the US, people do not have to deal with that yet, said Smith. “The reality is that my Zambian friend, my Nepali friend, they are carrying the burden of my country’s carbon emission and that’s the reason why we need a fair, ambitious and binding treat in Copenhagen,” said Smith.

Besides pledging determination in verbal form, the students have laid out a few concrete action proposals. A young Chinese entrepreneur named Huang Lei is actually in talks with several Chinese youths and American youths about initiating a joint business project in clean energy, while some students are thinking about writing commentary articles to the big media about what they think US and China could do together in fighting the climate war.

Though they are showing large presence in Copenhagen, many of the US youths the real solution to climate change is really the grassroots solution because people at the grassroots level understand the problems of their community. “They are the ones to know which alternative energy is practical and applicable,” Smith said.

In contrast, the Chinese youth seemed to be happier about their government’s commitment and action in fighting climate change. “We had a prime minister to take care ofthat and I don’t think this happens in other countries,” Li Lina, a graduate student of international studies. “But I don’t want to comment on whether China’s emission reduction goal is ambitious enough, because I don’t have enough knowledge to comment,” she said. “At this stage, we care more about the solutions,” she added.

Briefing for the meeting with Gary Locke (by Ning Wang)

2009-12-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

12 Chinese and American Youth have gathered at the "secret room" in the upper corner of Bella Center this afternoon to have a conversation with the United States secretariat of Commerce Mr. Gary Locke. Though having Chinese origin, Mr. Locke showed critical opinion upon Chinese Climate Policy. He insisted that "China should take more responsibility in carbon emission. In the future history textbook, China should take more responsibility in regardless of population if the climate change really occur." The representatives from China Youth COP15 delegation team can hardly agree with Mr. Locke's view. "Common but differentiate principle" should be followed at any time. China, as the leader of developing countries, should have the opportunity to coordinate their own development and emission reduction. The emission reduction obligation for those developed countries is a kind of responsibility and compensation for their exploitation of environment during industrialization not a kind of charitable donation. We are sort of disappointed with the attitude of US official, we do hope more effective progress could be made in next week's negotiation.

"Made in Denmark" better at delivering green message (By Si TingTing)

2009-12-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

When it comes to attracting people to the overheated topic of climate change, it's never bad to go dramatic.

The first few days of the Copenhagen climate summit passed with an awful lot of speeches. All negotiators said that their countries are committed to do more to get a climate deal. A handful of others made emotional pleas that the poor are suffering from climate disasters. But none of them work better to wake up people's numbed senses than a presentation of efficiency-minded ideas, especially when the ideas are of Danish origin.

The made-in-Denmark conference itself is pretty green by all itself: no bottled water, no gifts of Little Mermaid statuettes for the delegates.

The traditional Christmas tree in Copenhagen's Town Hall square, like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York, will only remain lit as long as enough energy is being generated by the 15 bikes set up to power them. The 21-meter-tall tree is decorated with 700 energy-efficient bulbs and the alternative means of powering the Christmas lighting will save the environment nine tons of carbon dioxide.

Next to Copenhagen's landmark Little Mermaid statue, local sculptor Jens Galschiot set up a provocative statue showing an obese Lady Justice sitting on an emaciated African man, representing hypocrisy in the climate debate.

The message to reduce environmental impact went so deep into Danish people's lifestyle that they even look to people's final journey for emission cuts. Starting in 2011, new environmental regulations in Denmark will require all crematoriums to have mercury filters. There are also plans to replace seven crematoriums in eastern Denmark with a single central facility for the sake of energy efficiency.

However, it's not just the Danish who are good at delivering the "go green" message; so are those who came to Denmark.

Scottish businesses and non-governmental organizations created a special-edition Scotch whisky as a gift to key negotiators at the talks. The 42 percent proof (21 percent alcohol), 20-year-old spirit is called TwentyTwenty 42 -- to mark Scotland's pledge to cut its greenhouse gases by 42 percent by 2020.

British wildlife sculptor Mark Coreth brought a life-sized ice polar bear to downtown Copenhagen to let people touch the bear and feel what their touches could do to hasten its watery demise. He hopes that people will appreciate the effects of human action and the plight of the polar bear. Coreth is now back in London to carve a twin bear to display in London's Trafalgar Square and hopes to follow with others around the world, even Tian'anmen Square in Beijing.

In addition, youth delegates from around the world are using their own low-budget but novel ways to pressure the negotiators. Yesterday, outside the main plenary session conference room and against a backdrop of suits and briefcases, scores of youth from around the world, dressed in pajamas and armed with pillows, asked their leaders to deliver a deal which will ensure the survival of all human beings and species. And today, a Chinese youth dressed as a traditional Chinese doctor will send out his prescription for a healthy earth at the conference center.

“Less than 2 US Dollars of fast aid on average is not even enough for buying a coffin..." (by Scully Meng)

2009-12-11T10:02:00.001-08:00

“Less than 2 US Dollars of fast aid on average is not even enough for buying a coffin..."

Deputy Chief Negotiator Su Wei said, the price level at Copenhagen is really high, a fast track of 10billion US dollars shared by the world pupulation will end up to be 2 dollars per person, not even enough to buy a cup of coffee here. A foreign colleague has interpreted as "coffin" though...

On the sencond day of COP15, Su Wei has criticised the EU, US, Japan and the major developed countries during the media briefing.

"The EU should not always compare to China. They should compare to the figure they have committed to in KP for the first commitment period." Said Su Wei, when talking about EU's query regarding China's reduction figure.

Considering the historical GHG emission of developed countries in the past 200 years of industrialisation process, China considers the reduction commitment of EU, US, Japan and other major developed countries in their second commitment period still lower than expectation. Su Wei has given the reporters relevant figures: EU's target of 20% reduction on the 1990 level is equivalent to an annual reduction of 1.05%. This is less than a half of their 2.48% average annual reduction target in their first commitment period. Even if the commitment increases to 30%, this is still only equivalent to an annual reduction of 1.93%. In the face of the self-claimed "ambitious" targets, EU is still comparing its own duties to China's voluntary reduction actions, Su Wei says, "EU is not kind at all".

Regarding Japan's 25% reduction target based on 1990 level, Su Wei thinks that there are still concerns despite the progress. Firstly, one of the conditoins associated with Japan's commitment is a reduction commitment by China, and KP states that developing countries do not have reduction obligations, therefore the requirement of Japan has violated KP. Secondly Japan has required the US to join KP, this is an impossible condition, therefore Japan's target does not need to be commited to given the conditions not realised. Even if eventually the conditions are fulfilled and Japan has commited, Su Wei still casts doubts on the figures: Japan is very likely to achieve its target by a substantial purchase of carbon credit or increase in carbon-sink program, instead of solid carbon reduction actions.

"At the current moment, the commitment of the US will determine the final outcome of COP15," Su Wei said, but the reduction of 17% based on 2005 level of the US is hardly a substantial reduction target, same as the EU. In fact, the CO2 emission of the US from 1990 to 2005 has grown substantially, to 16%, therefore the current commitment is only a 1% reduction at 1990 level.

Regarding another important issue, financing, Su Wei said, even if the finance provided by "fast track" of 10billion US dollars by 2012 has a large total sum, it is hard to help the developing countires with an enormous population. "If we share the money with everyone in the world, we get less than 2 US dollars per person, this is not even enough to buy a cup of coffee in Cophenhagen." Su Wei told the reporter.

Su Wei has always emphasised the truth of China being a developing country. The current mission of developing countries are still economic development, poverty elimination, achieving sustainable developement, whilst the developed countries has the capability and historical responsibility to pioneer in taking reduction actions. If they abandon KP and Bali Action Plan whilst push developing countries for reduction commitments, this is definitely not a positive signal for global action in fighting climate change.

A snapshot in Chinese policy towards COP-15 (by Ning Wang)

2009-12-11T09:46:00.001-08:00

As Tuvalu threw a tough question to the parties, China delegation used their own words to demonstrate their great achievement and potential contribution to the current and future climate mitigation.

Prof. Jiankun He, is the former executive vice president of the country wide renowned talent pool-Tsinghua University, and now works as the director of Tsinghua low carbon economy institute. He has provided consultancy for China government on energy and climate change issues for past decade.

To emphasis of China’s past contribution to world climate, He reminded developed countries should move their focal point from total CO2 emission increase to energy intensity (energy consumption per unit GDP, in tce/yuan) decrease. China enjoyed a significantly low energy intensity of 2% from 2000 to 2005, while the number stayed as high as 23% (1960~1974) and 45% (1971~1997) in Japan and South Korea during heavy chemical-driven industrialization.

Trillions of money has been put on to improve China’s industrial energy efficiency. Achievements are significant either. 750 million tons of CO2 emission was eliminated by closing down small thermal power station. The total power generation capacity supposed to be 100 thousand KW which equals to 70% of Great Britain total power demand. This project will extend its border to small cement production unit and steel plant. Extra cost of 1 million employment caused by shutting down industrial plants will occur to central government. Public economic policies endow special priority to renewable energy sectors—600 yuan/kw and 20,000 yuan/kw subsidy is designated to wind power sector and photovoltaic solar energy sector respectively.

Other neutral source of information indicates China’s ambition to mitigate climate change even though “irrational” investment was made by the government. HSBC claimed China rank number two world widely in “Green investment” right following South Korea. Mckinsey also insisted the government will have to endure 1.5 trillion Yuan forgone investment in eleven five years plan, and the number was estimated to be 1.9~3.5 trillion Yuan.

To reveal developed world’s insincerity, He’s number for US and EU applying same evaluating method with China was 32% and 30~40% respectively.

China negotiator also presented a perfect argument on Chinese attitude toward ongoing climate talk when facing foreign media’s challenging. Ambassador Yu Qingtai answered 6 questions on today’s new releasing. To make it in a concise way, three major points should be enough.

Historical emission gap between developed countries and developing countries should be the major responsibility of those rich countries to reduce emission even restricts their economic development. “The money from developed countries is not a donation but a demonstration of their responsibility and compensation to make up for their priority to economic development.” Ambassador Yu firmly declared it.

From the Chinese youth angle, we do appreciate the ambitious target Chinese government made. Some serious facts about China’s forgone cost to promote the clean energy revolution are really astonishing. However, we know the progress in the following 8 days is for both parties to make compromise from their baseline towards a common agreement. In my point of view, Danish text and Beijing draft are intentionally released by both parties as a stimulus to the solid negotiation. Significant result is expected to get in next couple of days. Here is a brief introduction to next article-“Sino-US on fire”.

2009-12-09 | The COP 15 Intergenerational Commitment Book

2009-12-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Growing Together in a Changing Climate:

The COP 15 Intergenerational Commitment Book

Background

Since September 2008, the UNFCCC secretariat has liaised with youth organizations around the world in an effort to facilitate participation of young people in the UNFCCC process. A year later, the secretariat granted preliminary constituency status to the youth, now recognized as the YOUNGO constituency.

With the financial support of the Government of the Netherlands and input from YOUNGO, the secretariat has designed and planned a series of events to support and enhance the COP preparatory activities of the youth, increase youth participation from developing countries and support and enhance the youth contribution to COP 15.

In the heart of the “Youth Arcade,” comprised of 15 youth-related booths, the secretariat will host a UNFCCC Youth booth, where participating United Nations agencies and youth organisations will present their initiatives on climate change and youth. This will be a place for all actors to display their success stories, identify synergies and develop new partnerships. All events taking place at the booth will be included in a daily programme of events prepared and distributed by the secretariat. This programme at the booth will be promoted through the COP 15 daily programme, as well as the daily programme of the Youth Arcade.

Concept

The booth will also host a new initiative called the COP 15 Intergenerational Commitment Book (the Book), where Parties, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector will be invited to express their views on and commitments to improving the youth participation in addressing climate change. The Book will be officially launched at the Intergenerational Inquiry Side Event on 10 December, where speakers will be invited to sign it. Speakers at the youth briefings organized by the secretariat will also be invited to sign the Book.

At the end of COP 15, the Book will be presented and handed over to the Mexican Government and host of COP 16, possibly at the last briefing with the Mexican Minister.

Entries in the book will be recorded in a database and a report of initiatives and commitments will be produced and circulated through CC:iNet, the UNFCCC information network clearing house. At COP 16, the Intergenerational Side Event will be the forum to, inter alia, share the results of the initiative and launch the COP 16 Book.

Implementation Plan

8 December: Presented to LCA and KP chairs at their youth briefing

10 December: Official Launch at the Intergenerational Inquiry and promotion in the official daily programme

10-18 December: UNFCCC Youth Booth and Youth Briefings

18 December:` Hand over to Mexican Government

January - December 2010: Monitoring of commitments by YOUNGO

COP 16`: Intergenerational Side Event (Share results and launched COP 16 Book).

Actions:

Action	Person in charge	Timeline
Promote initiative amongst Parties, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector.	Brankica - Adriana - Laurence	10 - 18 December
Process entries in database	Brankica - Adriana	10 - 18 December
Liaise with the media for VIP visits	Adriana	10 - 18 December
Presentation of the Book at the Side Event	Laurence	10 December
Presentation of the Book at mini-events at the booth	Adriana	TBC
Create a report of the initiative	YOUNGO	TBD
Upload the report to CC:iNet	David
Share results of the initiative	Laurence	COP 16

COP15 Day 3 - CCS and CDM

2009-12-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

I have to say what I gathered these days are rather miscellaneous, just the way things are presented here at the conference. UN has planetary sessions of meetings open to all participants every day. People can even just sit on the side floors, and take photos whever you want, as long as you don’t disturb others and go to podium to disrupt the chair of the session… It was in effect very hard to follow exactly as the things they discussed are rather technical and often follow-ups/sum-ups of previous discussions during earlier various talks. One thing that I was present and was actually able to understand well was about if carbon capturing and sequestration (CCS) should be included under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Most developing countries [I have the recording that I can trace back exactly which countries said so, but not now] expressed the concerns over CCS as an immature and rather controversial technology to be added. CCS is basically the capturing of CO2 from burning of fossil fuels before it emits into the atmosphere, and storing it underground or sell for other purposes, such as injecting into your soda or to get more oil out of the field (tar sand as well I think). There are concerns about the instability of the injection at underground level and the long-term leakage of it from the ground. Several developed countries (e.g. Sweden and Australia) advocated for its enlistment as they have enough data to support the feasibility of such technology. Kuwait, interestingly, cried for serious consideration of the technology, as they’ve studies to prove its feasibility; they have none CDM projects and CCS is their one shot, blah blah blah (Okay, you can see I am strongly biased..). they requested the floor four times during the discussion to restate and accentuate their strong adaptation. I was not really buying their saying first for reasons stated above. And second, think about the Kuwait as a major oil-fed country, how much more oil and more coal they can burn with CCS?

Yet I still think it is a complicated issue, considering the possibility of getting funding for developing countries to either build new coal-fired plants with CCS or retrofitting old ones (less technologically feasible). It is a good thing if something could be done to mitigate the climate change effect of the coal burning but it is absolutely not a radical solution and even giving excuse to continue using coal. Coal addicts and many more, just feel it is stupid not to use up the reserves. Yet in a longer term it will affect the development of renewable energies for sure. As long as there are “alternative” options such as coal, there is less incentives to have the renewable, which are more like the common sense to me.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis on climate change in the Bella Centre

2009-12-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is the second major event organised by the China Youth COP15 after the start of the COP15.

Today we had a major campaigning event in the Bella Centre, the traditional Chinese Medicine diagnoses on climate change. Our inspiration came from the philosophy behind Chinese medicine - the diagnosis of a whole body as a system, so that if there is a syptom arisen from one particular area, there must be underlying causes and problems of the whole system which have fundamentally caused it. We want to view the whole world as one system, and work together to combat climate change. If only one nation goes forward, it cannot achieve much without cooperation from others.

Also that Chinese medicine is a long-term cure that it promotes the enhancement of overall wellness rather than a quick fix. We have to admit that a quick fix will not work for climate change mitigation and we have to rehabilitate the Earth from within - a fundamental systematic change is needed.

So today, we, the China Youth Delegation, have set up a stand outside Bella center decorated as
the traditional Chinese Medicine doctor stand. Meanwhile, we have designed a two
meters high thermometer. At every hour, the temperature was raised one degree
Celsius, and one living creature (we had our team members dressed up as pandas, monkeys, elephants etc. ) perish and be taken always by the devil.

In the picture below, our team member is holding a picture of a bird species that has almost reached extinction as a consequence of climate change.

We encouraged as many delegates to participate as possible and we have given out a diagnosed prescription which addresses issues and actions regarding climate change to each 'patient'.

Each 'patient' has given their commitment to climate action and signed our book of commitment after having their diagnosis. We have designed the event so that the more people coming to participate, the slower the growth of the temperature on the thermometer.

We sincerely hope that this event can be thought-provoking for our participants. They might leave and lose the diagnosed prescription paper, but we hope that they can remember this unique event organised by the Chinese youths and take actions NOW before it is too late.

Interviewing the Sudanese Minister of Foreign affairs' Environmental Affairs Director (by Yiting Wang)

2009-12-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

On the first day of COP 15, Monday afternoon, the first planetary AWG-LCA meeting was held in the biggest conference hall.

The Sudanese Minister of Foreign affairs’ Environmental Affairs Director Amira Gornass drew my attention as she gave a speech on behalf of the G77+China group, stating the group’s full engagement and good faith here to implement the Bali Action Plan. She also delivered an opening speech for the group during last UN climate change conference.

Educated at one of oldest women’s college in the U.S., I was preceded by highly accomplished women throughout the U.S. history in science, education and governance, etc. I approached her during the meeting to request an interview afterwards, as part of my goal here to identify outstanding women leaders fighting against climate change. She kindly agreed.

My first question was how she thought of the role of women in face of climate change. Ms. Gornass replied firmly that women have a huge role. First of all women were the ones mostly hit by climate change and care about the environment. “We were the cookers, farmers at home. We were the educators of our children. I think education women’s education is especially important.”

The second question was on the role of women in Sudan in particular. Ms. Gornass was very proud to tell me that about 60% of college students were female in Sudan, although the awareness of climate change still lacked in Sudan. They are not just suffering from it, not realizing that it was largely caused by climate change. The conflict in Southern Sudan was essentially a resource war caused by many desertification and droughts that were associated with climate change. The government now was bringing up the education of global warming—not a lot, and more is needed.

When speaking of the Chinese Sudanese relationship, Ms. Gornass said it was 50 years of good friendship, “Chinese people come to Sudan to develop the invest in the infrastructure and trade.” She also expected this COP meeting will generate strong outcomes with Annex-1 countries fulfilling their duties.

I wasted no time to take a photo with her. She said I should come to visit someday and she would receive me at her house. No other way, said me.

The story of the China Youth COP15 "transportation team" (by Yufeng Zhan)

2009-12-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Each member in our delegation team needs to write blogs, and it is an important task. This will ensure that we can pass on the information of COP15 to the youths in China, who are actively following our activities. I do not have a habit of writing blogs, but I will try my best to record the story of my COP15 trip and share with you.

The first two days were without internet. In fact, the internet at our hostel was so "excellent" that I couldn't connect to it for once. So I appologise for leaving everything until now (I'm now writing in the Bella Centre).

The story I want to tell is about our China Youth COP15 "transportation team".

We are the last few to leave China for Copenhagen, and a lot of campaigning materials were actually just received from the manufacturers. Therefore we had enormous responsibility to take all of the material to Copenhagen.We have 20kg of baggage allowance, and a lot of us had exceeded the limit. We were delighted to find that the staff at the Beijing International Airport saw us carrying a flag of China, so they allowed us to take 23kg of luggages each, saving a total of 10,000rmb.

These are the ballons used for the Green China campaigning event on the first day of COP15 (a blog was written for it previously).

We did not want to waste any time and tried to fit work into every minute of spare time that we had to ensure efficient internal communication.

The WWF donation box at the Copenhagen airport:

We have now got the group stickers everywhere!

Finally we have arrived in Copenhagen safely. Please stay tuned and follow our upcoming events.

Green China, Youth Action

2009-12-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

On the opening day of COP 15, the Chinese youth delegation, together with Chinese entrepreneurs, also members of Society Entrepreneur Ecology (SEE) and Shanshui Conservation Center, launched the Green China initiative campaign. Jointly they made a promise to build a green China. Chinese youth will do their best to influence the 400 million Chinese youth strong and promote climate change actions.

We drew attention from tremendous amount of news media, including the BBC, Beijing TV station, etc. It was a great presence.

our behind-the-scene heroes,Yangfurong (up) and Liu Yanjun (below)

The road to the West by Sun Xiaomin

2009-12-08T03:17:00.000-08:00

COP 15 is loaded with expectations and hope. People can’t seem to wait to build a new global climate framework. Copenhagen is then mystified as the Western Paradise in Buddism. I am like the other followers, going on our passages of pilgrimage and hoping for the sutra of climate change solutions. We shall bring it back to each of our country, spread it out and eradicate the suffering caused by climate change.

Two months ago, an announcement of recruitment brought me and other 40 something youths together as the organizers and participants of the Chinese youth delegation to the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. I helped organize the interviews, trainings and selected groups of outstanding youths. I was especially proud to envision them to send out their voices representing China at COP 15. We all learned a tremendous deal from the trainings on executive capability and efficiency, and each of us benefited greatly in the process.

I am in charge of the campaign team, organizing campaign events during COP. During the preparation stage, team members both in Beijing and outside, kept coming up with new ideas to make our publicity activities attractive and get the idea across easily. Huang Lei was happy to make a walking wish-making tree; Yihan was running around to purchase the materials needed; Yanjun squeezed her brain to get a prop; Yanqi bought coats for the Santa Clause; Linlang and Mengjiao made a thermometer decorated by bamboo trees. And most applause to our designer in chief—Zhan Yufeng, who worked 24-hour on shift designing and producing our props and publications.

Everyone’s efforts made us feel at ease during the journey. We felt more than ever ready...

It was already dark when Lina and I finally got to Copenhagen. We were afraid our baggage would be held up as we heard earlier there was a workers’ strike in Finland. Well luckily, we had all of our luggage. We arrived at the Danhostel—a very tall building by the river banks, with excellent city views. The room was small. Buy finally resting on bed; I thought the world out there was such small as well.

From COP 14 to COP 15 by Li Li

2009-12-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

I still remember the chilly wind and my tired excitement around the same time last years in Poznan. The negotiations were the almost the same—it was exciting to participate, but the talks were not making any progress. I seemed to be the only youth representative from China invited by UNFCCC. There were a lot of attention, and responsibility. I then became very engaged in all sorts of youth activities organized in many countries, met many youth leaders and learned more about the seemingly mysterious COP meetings. I felt such good opportunity should be shared by more Chinese youth.

A year has gone by. Looking back, I see the my dream of brining more youth to COP meetings gradually fledged with the help of my colleague Shane and many more. From planning to implementation, solving one problem after another, I have grown so much in so little time. And CYCAN, which I initiated, is growing rapidly with much attention as well.

In a few hours, I will set foot in COP again. Yet this time, there is less excitement, but more pressure of helping the youth delegation achieve their goals. We sail to COP with shared vision and divided tasks. COP 15 receives unprecedented attention, not just because the first commitment period of Kyoto Protocol is near expiration, but also because a new round of resource war under the “environment” and “climate” coat will start to play.

We are receiving the publicity we wanted—we want more people to know. We want those aware to act and take on responsibilities. But first, we need our youth delegates to lead the actions, fulfill their duties and responsibilities. But more importantly, I want them to find their own ways of participating in their own futures. Our future.

I am once again excited. COP 15, here I come. And yes No Other Way.

COP15 Opening Ceremony

2009-12-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

COP15 happens inside here. It's huge.

Here are the sculptures outside the Bella Centre. The picture itself is quite self-explanatory. You see skinny kids standing in water up to angle height. That is what is going to happen with climate change - the sea level rises, so their homeland will soon be under water. More frequent extreme weather affects their lives heavily, because they are living in LDCs and are most vulnerable to climate change and its consequences.

Due to the large number of total delegates and the limited capacity of the Bella Centre (15,000 capacity, 20,000 participants), the civil societies have only got a limited number of tickets of the Opening of COP15, which means that many observers cannot get inside Planetary 1 to see the actual opening ceremony. It was a bit disappointing for us, since most of us did not get in. Nevertheless we went to Planetary 2 to watch the live broadcast. It was very crowded and filled with people.

As you can see in the picture below, Denmark showed the world this video of a young girl, who had a dream of a terrifying future with climate change consequences. Young children are important stakeholders, as they are inheriting the world from the present generation. They are passionate about COP15 and they want to express their concern and hope. This should provoke thoughts for everyone in COP15 and around the world, to stop for a second and think for a while, before rushing to make decisions.

No Other Way EVERYWHERE

2009-12-05T10:15:00.001-08:00

WHEN PEOPLE LEAD, LEADERS FOLLOW.

DENMARK ASKS: ENERGY EFFICIENCY - DO YOU REALIZE THE PROTENTIAL?

FOR THE NEW ENERGY FUTURE, WE NEED TO MAKE CARBON MANAGEMENT HAPPEN.

BY SAVING MILLIONS OF TONS OF CO2 WITH ECO-FRIENDLY MOBILITY SOLUTIONS.

"I'M SORRY. WE COULD HAVE STOPPED CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE... WE DIDN'T."

Hello Copenhagen!

2009-12-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hopenhagen is the slogan created for COP15 by the Government of Denmark. You basically see it everywhere once you arrive at the airport. There are even COP15 booths where you can get information from the friendly volunteers. This somehow reminds us of Beijing during the Olympics last year :)

The first poster (of course I mean a digital display screen) I saw when I got off the plane was a futuristic picture of Obama in 2020 (obviously a bit older than now, and looking very dismal) saying that we could have stopped climate change but we didn't. There are also other versions of this (eg the Gordon Brown version) which are very eye-catching. Unfortunately I have not taken photos of them, but I guess you'll all have the chance to see them yourselves, or go on their website http://www.hopenhagen.org/ and have a look at what they are doing now.

We were also not surprised to see plenty of advertisements by the alternative energy industry and green enterprises. There was even a contemporary art exhibition themed around climate change.

Here are some photos that our team members have taken today:

A lady carrying a plastic bag with "reuse this, reduce CO2 Emission (or something like that)" said to one of our colleagues, "Enjoy the Summit". :)

(that's Connie Hedegaard staring out from the poster)

The city is prepared for the COP15 (tougher than the Olympics, we think).

Santa Clause Embraces "No Other Way"

2009-12-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

On 3 Dec, four of our team members have set off for Copenhagen. They have bumped into Santa Clause while they were waiting during a flight transit in Helsinki!
However they were not aware of the fact that there was a strike going on with Finnair. And our happy folks have lost their luggages... Let's hope that they can get them back asap.

China Youth COP15

2009-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

WHO WE ARE

• We are a self-organized delegation of 50 young leaders from China committed to a secure and low-carbon future
• We all have a proven track record of excellence and a vowed commitment to educate and lead others
• We represent a nation that makes up one-fifth of humanity, and a youth population of 400 million people (1.5 times the entire population of the United States).
• We aspire to become China’s future entrepreneurs, chief executives, social pioneers and government leaders
• We will be alive in the year 2050, and we understand that our lives depend on political decisions that must be science-based
• We believe there is No Other Way!

OUR MISSIONS

1. Represent China’s Youth Commitment to a Low Carbon Future
2. Set a Precedence of Chinese Youth Engagement on International Issues that Affect Us
3. Inspire a New Generation of Forward-Thinking Leadership
4. Pioneer Peaceful Youth Diplomacy Around the World

OUR CAMPAIGN: NO OTHER WAY but NOW!

OUR ACTIONS

- On October 24, 2009, we organized 300 simultaneous ciimate action events throughout China in an unprecedented display of positive and peaceful collaboration towards finding solutions for climate change
- In October, we organized a rigorous nationwide search for outstanding youth to form China’s first youth delegation to COP15
- In November, we conducted intensive professional training, and learned from experts on COP15 Negotiations and Climate Change Issues, Communication Strategies and Leadership
- We intensively raised grassroots funds of over US$100,000 in less than one month to be able to pioneer this effort in Copenhagen
- We will spend 2 weeks in Copenhagen utilizing all our knowledge, talent and resources to inspire and make a difference!