Day 9 & 10 - The End

The last two days of my time in Cancun were official days off, that consisted of sleeping in, sightseeing around Cancun downtown and snorkeling in the sparkling sapphire ocean! For one of our delegates, it was her first time in the ocean, so it was pretty special time!!

But there were a few formal things left to do before the long flight home. On the Saturday evening we went back to Moon Palace to see the SBI session where the decision regarding Article 6 that was reached in the Contact group the day before was discussed!

We managed to get a hold of the Chair of the SBI before the session and he agreed to give out the Gold Stars!!  Here is a link to a YouTube clip showing what happened!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_N9vzeWCrM

We were just so excited and so proud! It was a great way to end my time at COP16. I was so lucky to go to the conference as it was a fantastic chance to see how the international process works and just what progress is being made. Too often people feel disconnected to the international process – what impact could I possibly have on such a HUGE endeavour. However being a youth delegate as part of WAGGGS showed me that even an ordinary Guides Leader like me can make a difference to the decisions that our governments make!

Being in Mexico was awesome – it has really boosted my capacity as a Girl Guide to be the change that I want to see in the world – and now I can’t wait to share it with every Girl Guide in Australia!! 

Some of the Article 6 Working Group and our Gold Stars!!

The Chair of the SBI handing out our Gold Stars!!

Day 8 - Article 6

Day 8 was all about Article 6 – just a reminder about what Article 6 is; Article 6 makes up a small but very important section in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It talks about the need to combat climate change through:

• education
• training
• raising public awareness
• encouraging public participation
• improving public access to information
• international cooperation

Katie Scales, one of the WAGGGS delegates wrote a great summary of the whole Article 6 story – so I’ll leave it in her words...

What happened before COP 16?

The New Delhi Work Programme (NDWP), 2002 - 2007: recommends integrating Article 6 activities in existing climate change programmes and strategies. 

Amended New Delhi Work Programme (aNDWP), 2007 - 2012: recommends implementing national Article 6 'plans of action'. It also suggests the inclusion of population groups such as youth. 

Mid-Term review and draft conclusions from the Subsidiary Board for Implementation (SBI), 2010: Largely thanks to active lobbying by Youth Non-governmental (YOUNGO) representatives, Parties, Inter-governmental Organisations (IGOs) and observers were asked for submissions to feed into the SBI's report on ‘essential needs for, potential gaps in, barriers to, and progress in the implementation of the aNDWP.' WAGGGS, together with the European Youth Forum (YFJ), handed in a submission!

The main focus points of WAGGGS' submission included:

• recognition of youth as important stakeholders in the implementation of Article 6
• recognition of non-formal education (for example peer education, learning by doing, experiential learning) as an effective method to deliver climate change education
• guaranteeing equal access to education for girls and boys 
• promotion of youth delegates in official government delegations
• ensuring funding is available for Article 6 activities 

What happened at COP 16?

Step One: All submissions (including the one from WAGGGS!) were put together by the UNFCCC Secretariat into a 'Synthesis Report', which was released shortly before COP 16 started. It was really exciting to see that a lot of our points had found their way into the Synthesis Report.

Step Two: We then had to see what the SBI would make of the Synthesis Report. Originally they planned to have informal meetings (where NGOs would be most likely unable to attend), to discuss the Report and propose conclusions. Lesotho however, speaking on behalf of the G77 negotiating group, managed to turn the informal meetings into one Contact Group (where NGOs are allowed). The aim then became to agree on a decision that would be put forward to the SBI and later to COP. This was a great success as a decision is far more powerful than a conclusion.

Step Three: There was great concern that it would not be possible to have a text for a decision put together and agreed upon within just 90 minutes of a Contact Group. So the YOUNGO Article 6 Policy Group, which WAGGGS is part of, spent a lot of time and effort lobbying parties to not only to include our main points in the text, but also to push for a quick discussion in the Contact Group. We approached the G77 and many individual G77 countries, the EU and several individual EU countries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway among others. All in all we were very busy!

Step Four: The Contact Group took place on Friday, 3 December. At first, the discussions started very slowly, concentrating on just the introduction to the text. But there were almost 100 youth present in the room, all in the same blue T-shirts sporting the slogan: "You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell me you need more time."

This statement transformed the atmosphere in the room, and a willingness for compromise arose from all Parties. Not only that, but the final agreed text includes all the important points YOUNGO raised; youth as important stakeholders in training and participation, non-formal education, increase access to funding for Article 6, the gender perspective, and a lot more.

It was a really cool day – we were so excited! The Chair of the SBI said that if a decision was reached he would give out gold stars!! So on the night on Day 8, we went out and bought gold paper and spent the evening cutting out stars!!

Day 7 - YoFuGe Day

Well there is a HUGE gap between Day 6 and Day 7 but better late than never!! Day 7 was Young and Future Generations (YoFuGe) Day. YoFuGe Day is all about raising awareness about how the current negotiations are shaping the future of youth worldwide.

We celebrated this day with a lot of actions and side vents all over the two venues of the COP: Cancun Messe and Moon Palace. The first action of the day was a silent protest took place at the point were all the official country delegates are passing in the morning, to catch a shuttle bus to Moon Palace. We were standing in two rows wearing our blue Young and Future Generations Day t-shirts with a quote on the back saying: "You have been negotiating my whole life - you cannot tel me you need more time." This was said by a 17-year old gold from the Solomon Islands last year at COP 15.

Earlier this week we, the WAGGGS delegates, produced a video outlining an action song. The dance and song are simple and fun!! We asked our 10 million members worldwide to participate in the dance and song to raise awareness about climate change. We immediately had people pledge to dance with us from home!

Today, we facilitated an action with the other youth here at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. We led the dance in two different locations: the Moon Palace and the Cancunmesse. The Moon Palace is where all of the negotiations take place during COP, so it was incredibly important for us to raise our voices there. The Cancunmesse is where all of the NGOs (and others) have information stands, as well as where side events take place. At 12 noon, the dance and song began. There was a lot of participation, a lot of media, and the energy reached the sky! It was fantastic!

In the afternoon when the actions were over, it was time to get back to the formal goings on of COP16. I attended a side event called: 'Living up to the education challenge of Article 6: Preparing children and young people for climate change'. It was designed to help share knowledge and best practices in climate change education, including formal and non-formal. Non-formal education covers things like learning by doing and peer education, like Girl Guides, whereas formal education is what you get at school. WAGGGS was one of the event organisers and two of our very own delegates were speakers, Miriam Otieno was the mediator and Katie Scales was on the panel that was taking questions!  Also on the panel, amongst others was Reuben Sessa from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation as well as Stephanie Hodge from the UNICEF.

The side event was a series of questions posed to the panellist about issues with delivering climate change education and why it is effective as part of the solution to the Climate change challenge with a focus on non-formal education. Many people spoke as well as the panellists such as one of the UNICEF Climate Ambassadors, Walter Periatt from Belize. Walter is 12 years old and he got up in front of a crowded room and gave a great speech about how education about climate change gives you the knowledge of what to expect and can help communities to adapt to and mitigate the impacts. Another speaker was Ana Lucia Mamani Espinal from Bolivia, who spoke about the potential stumbling blocks that you may come across when developing education programmes such as poor Internet availability in some countries – in Bolivia, people can pay $1 for an hour of Internet!

The side show really highlighted all the great education projects that are already in place, but it also highlighted that there is still a lot of work that needs doing to get education to as many people as possible especially in countries in the Global South.

The Silent Protest

Megan, Trine and Fatima doing the Climate Change Dance

Katie Scales at the Article 6 Side Event

 All in all it was a YoFuGe Day!