Day 5

Bron and I with Australian Climate Change Ambassador Louise Hand!

On the 2^nd day of COP16, Bronwyn and I met with the Australian Ambassador for climate change, Louise Hand. We wanted to speak with her about the key messages of WAGGGS; that there needs to be greater emphasis on girls and young women in the UNFCCC and our policy position on Article 6 for the mid-term review.

We met Ambassador Hand just outside where the negotiations take place in Moon Palace. It turns out that she had been a Brownie and a Guide when she was young and that she still holds the record in her group for gaining the bookworm badge the fastest!!

We explained what WAGGGS is about & our role at COP16. We then explained what our position was for the review of Article 6. Our policy position, which is unified position of youth at COP16, asks for increased emphasis and funding for climate change education and information dissemination. The rationale behind our position is that through critical mass of civil society we will get the ambitious policies we need to tackle climate change.

We then asked whether Australia would support our position on article 6 and to ensure that they are included in the final conclusions of the SBI mid-term review expected to be finalised by the end of this week. Ambassador Hand agreed on the spot to our position and immediately asked that our document be taken to the Australian Article 6 delegate for inclusion in the discussions that were taking place. It was an amazing feeling – we had just influenced our Country to agree with our policy position! Now we are looking forward to see what the decisions are to see if we made a difference!

I spent the afternoon in a side event which was talking about best practice education programs for climate change in Caribbean countries. Countries represented were Peru, Honduras and Mexico. In Peru they have developed a complete curriculum module for school children in the mountainous regions to learn about how climate change might affect them.  They have so far managed to train 5000 teachers in the syllabus. That equates to 120 000 students having access to a teacher with climate change knowledge and in 2011 Peru is making climate change a compulsory subject for all students!

The session ended with a film clip from Jamaica that was used to teach youth about climate change! You should all check it out! It’s brilliant – and pretty funny too. Check it out here Jamacian Voices of Climate Change