International Youth United: 4th Conference of Youth (COY-4) in Poznan

Over 500 international youth delegates gathered at the fourth international Conference of Youth (COY-4) prior to the official start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

This year's COY ran from November 29-30, drawing delegates from countries across the world. By design, the COY is a space where youth come to learn about the nuts and bolts of the COP, formulate common strategy on direct actions, messaging, communications, policy positions and share inspiring stories, with a sprinkle of uplifting cheer, to motivate and energize delegates to participate in the UN conference. The COY has also played a tremendous role in establishing what is no doubt a growing youth movement.

I spoke briefly with a long-time COY participant from the United States who told me that the turnout this year is simply overwhelming, and that he had never seen so many young (registered) delegates at the COP before - although he did note that there was a similarly overwhelming crowd of young participants at the 2005 UN conference in Montreal, many of whom were not registered delegates.

One of the most inspiring tales came from the Australian youth delegation, who organized a 40-day land-only trek to Poznan. Rather than flying, the group of 5 young people make an incredible effort to substantially reduce their carbon footprint.

The COY serves as a clear signal to the international community that young people demand a voice in the climate change debate. They are conscious of the impacts that climate change will invariably have on their future. And they've proven their ability to mobilize, in building a diverse, well-informed, movement.

Although many of the participants received accreditation through large NGOs to attend the conference, many of them have come as individuals and joined with national youth delegations - leaving their personal organizational affiliations behind. Others have funded their own way to Poznan and have joined up with established national youth delegations while here.

This, in itself, is a testament to the strength and commitment of individuals in this movement.

If there's one thing I've learned so far (well, not really learned as much as confirmed) is that young people have an incredible propensity to think creatively.

On shoe string budgets, the international youth group has lined up an assortment of clever and well-organized actions that will roll out over the coming weeks. It's inspiring to watch this group feed off each other's energy while brainstorming action ideas!

International youth are primed and ready to go. COP starts tomorrow. First action starts in the morning, so stay tuned!

A short (and helpful) backgrounder on the COP

I've received piles and piles of background information on the UN Climate Conference, it's structures and programs, thanks to the the near endless string of emails sent via the Canadian Youth Delegation listerv! I did my best to mine through these documents on the plane ride over to Poznan and found a number of them to be quite helpful.

As we are now less than 48 away from the official start of COP-14, I wanted to take a moment to break down "The Conference" into small, manageable (and explanatory) bits for anyone who is looking for a quick crash course. I hope that this will provide a guide to some of the strange looking acronyms that will, no doubt, find their way into this blog over the course of the next two weeks.

Of course, for the sake of space, I'm not going to touch on all of these structures. So, I've condensed what I consider to be the most important in to this post. I'll be sure to provide background notes on anything relevant I don't cover here.

****

In June 1992, the international community adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (also known as the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

The UNFCCC is a treaty that aims to stabilize global greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, responding to the growing body of scientific evidence that linked GHG emissions with damage to the Earth's climate system: with catastrophic results.

The UNFCCC, itself, is a non-binding treaty. It sets no limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual nations and did not contain any enforcement provisions. There are currently 192 member countries to the UNFCCC.

Despite it's lack of 'teeth', the treaty does provide for protocols that would enable mandatory GHG emission reduction targets to be set.

Fast forward ten years later. December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention is established. The Protocol includes binding emission reduction targets for developed countries for the period 2008-2012.

Negotiations of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol take place at different times throughout the year, and culminate at the UN Climate Change Conference - usually held at the end of the year. The UN Climate Change Conference is where the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC meet.

The UN Climate Change Conference is also where the overseeing body of the Kyoto Protocol meets (referred to as the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol - or CMP for short).

In December 2007, the "Bali Road Map" was reached, and involved representatives of both developed and developing nations. It was a landmark decision of the UNFCCC parties to launch formal negotiations on a deal for long-term co-operative action once the timelines for the Kyoto Protocol expire. The Bali Road Map came on the heels on an Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)report earlier in the year (the leading review body on climate change science) that stated global climate change is in fact accelerating, much of it because of GHG emissions through human activity.

Negotiations for the Bali Road Map (and post-Kyoto commitments) are set to conclude at the UNFCCC in Copenhagen, 2009 and come into force no later than 2012. Poznan will play an important role in pushing this objective forward.

Following the Bali Road Map, two additional working groups were established to play a role in reaching a Copenhagen deal.

The Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) - which assembles all 192 Parties to the UNFCCC - deals exclusively with negotiations on the Copenhagen deal. It focuses on key issues for the deal including mitigation, adaptation, technology transer and financial instruments.

The Ad-hoc Working Group on further commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) was established to negotiate further commitments of industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol.

Both of these Ad-hoc Working Groups will meet in Poznan. Negotiations will wrap up in 2009.

Now that you've got a sense of some of the major bodies to the UN Climate Change Conference, and the roles they play, check out the official COP-14 Poznan website for conference schedules, agendas and information on additional subgroups to the Conference that may be of interest.

For a more thorough backgrounder produced by the UNFCCC, click here.

CYD Gather for Pre-Summit in Toronto

After months of conference calls and regular working group meetings, the Canadian Youth Delegation is ready to meet in person, for the first time tomorrow afternoon (November 26).

This first meeting has been billed a "pre-summit," and is being hosted by the good folks at TakingItGlobal in Toronto. The pre-summit offers delegates some basic skills training in areas of climate policy (e.g. key issues to watch out for in Poznan), media messaging and the use of new media, anti-oppression, and even a quick lesson on basic Polish. What an amazing way to build a stronger, more engaged group of participants!

The CAW was asked by CYD pre-summit organizers to participate in a delegate mentorship program, which aims to educate delegates on climate challenges and solutions from a variety of perspectives - including workers. Nick DeCarlo, of the CAW Health, Safety & Environment department is scheduled to speak at this event along with folks like Clayton Thomas-Mueller of the Indigenous Environmental Network and Cheryl Ratchford of the Ecology Action Centre.

I'm hoping to upload some materials, as well as photos, from this event to share with those following this blog. Understanding these different perspectives on climate change is so vital in our efforts to build bridges of solidarity across progressive movements, and may be of use to many of you out there... wherever you are!

Before leaving for Poznan on Friday the 28th my goal is to provide a short debrief on the pre-summit (which runs from the 26-27), some background material on the UN Climate Change Conference itself (and all of it's complexities) as well as all relevant policy, media and action-oriented material produced by the CYD over the past months. Enough reading to keep you occupied for weeks!

Poznan 2008: The Stage is Set

This year's UN Climate Change Conference (COP-14) in Poznan, Poland comes at a critical time for working people (especially young workers) in Canada and throughout the world.

The international community's inability to take coordinated and meaningful action to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is pushing us closer and closer to catastrophe. Already we are seeing the impact of climate change on the economy and many societies. At the same time as we stare down this global climate crisis, we face a financial market meltdown that has brought to light the inherent flaws in our financial system, networks of global capital, free trade agreements and other free-market mechanisms.


Without a doubt, COP-14 is situated at the crossroads of these two major crises. How the international community frames and responds to these environmental and economic challenges over the coming weeks will provide a clearer picture of the path that international climate policy will take for years to come. This is especially important as the Poznan conference is considered a major stepping stone on the path toward a new (post-Kyoto) international climate agreement on long-term cooperative action that will be established in 2009.

For young people, the future will be shaped by the important decisions made today. This is why the Canadian Youth Delegation will play such a critical role at COP-14 in Poznan bringing the voice of young Canadians forward. Just like it has done in previous years (at COP-11 in Montreal, COP-12 in Nairobi and COP-13 in Bali).

For the first time CAW members will be actively involved in the CYD (which is made up of a diverse group of 26 young leaders from across the country - check out the delegation here) - including young members Steven El-Helou (CAW Local 444, Windsor) and Stephan Cronin (CAW Local 88, Ingersoll). The delegation also includes representatives from the environmental movement and student communities.

Through this blog I hope to capture many of the highlights and key developments on climate policy at this year's conference and share them with you. It's a jam-packed agenda that includes policy and media work as well as on-the-ground activism... lots of activism!

Personally, I've never been involved in anything of this magnitude before (this is also my first blogging effort), so when I say I'm overwhelmed that's clearly an understatement!!

However, I can't hide the excitement in knowing that I'll have an opportunity to liaise and network with young people from all over the world, and to build contacts with other labour union delegations and Global Union Federations.

I hope that you'll join me on this journey to Poznan by following this blog. I welcome any comments, questions or feedback along the way. Check back often for new posts, pictures and (hopefully) video feeds for what promises to be a showcase of young worker activism.

Not only is the goal to help bring the voice of young workers to the table on the development of climate policy, but to illustrate the passion and energy through which young people have mobilized on this issue and the urgency in their message.