International Climate Policy Process 101

At the Earth Summit in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed. The ultimate objection of this Convention is to prevent dangerous climate change (Article 2). Industrialized countries agreed to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2000; however this wasn’t a binding target. By 1995 it was obvious that more needed to be done to adequately address climate change. So countries agreed to start negotiations on a Protocol. These talks culminated in the Kyoto Protocol in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. As part of the checks and balances of international negotiations, any agreements signed by a country at the international level must be ratified by that nation’s government at home. Enough countries, representing enough of the industrialized country emissions, ratified the Kyoto Protocol so that it finally came into force (i.e. became legally binding) on February 16, 2005 (yeah!). The Kyoto Protocol stipulates industrialized countries must, on the whole, reduce their emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels (though countries may have different individual targets – Canada’s is 6%). These reductions must be done between 2008-2012; this period is referred to as the first commitment period. The climate meeting in Bali in 2007 was crucial as governments had to agree to begin negotiating the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It took two years to negotiate Kyoto (and 8 years to ratify it). In order to ensure that these negotiations on the second commitment period were finished in time to ratify them before 2012, these negotiations would need to conclude in December 2009. Industrialized countries began talking about their possible future commitments in Montreal in 2005, but we need to speed up the process! Kyoto is only the first small step towards action on climate change at the international level. The longer we wait to take meaningful action, the harder it will be to avoid dangerous climate change.

YOUTH at the UN climate talks

The global community has long recognized youth as key players in the implementation of sustainable development. In 2002, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation reiterated the need for youth involvement in programmes and activities related to sustainable development. The importance of engaging the next generation of decision makers (and those who will feel the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change) has been widely agreed upon, yet youth participation within the UNFCCC process has been sparse.

Youth delegations began attending the annual two-week long international negotiations, known as COP, in 2000. Canadian youth became involved en masse in the process when the negotiations came to Montreal in late 2005: over 150 youth from across the country attended the meeting. COP‐11 in Montreal 2005 represents one of the only instances where Canadian youth participation was formally supported by the federal government and its
impacts on the youth movement, both in Canada and internationally, are still discernable today. Youth participation at COP‐11 lead directly to the creation of the
Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, the founding of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (which also hosted the 2nd International Conference of Youth), and
the first official Canadian Youth Delegation. For Canadian youth, and many others who participated in the Beyond Kyoto summit, Montreal represented a shift from
individual to collective organising around the negotiations. The past three year’s negotiations in Kenya, Indonesia, and Poland have always drawn strong Canadian youth delegations.

At previous negotiations, youth have:

·       Organized pre-conference international youth summits to exchange experiences, learn more about the climate process and develop the youth position for the meeting;

·       Served as a focal point requesting Canadians to encourage their government to create a strong international climate agreement;

·       Attended the official meetings and side events as accredited observers;

·       Published a daily youth newsletter to communicate with delegates;

·       Held panel discussions on youth engagement at the domestic and international level to raise awareness amongst negotiators of youth’s activities and commitments;

·       Organized daily theatrical events and actions inside the conference center to provide commentary on the state of the negotiations in a creative way;

·       Reported to youth back at home through the global youth movement blog

(itsgettinghotinhere.org);

·       Met with country delegations, the UN Climate Change Secretariat, and other leaders to express youth’s views;

·       Communicated our position to domestic and international media outlets; and

·       Represented the youth position at the Ministerial high-level segment of the conference

and at other parallel events.

·       Made a significant contribution to international youth organizing including policy, media and action working groups.

Recently, youth were granted probationary official status as an observer group at the UNFCCC. This means that YOUNGOS or Youth Non-Government Organisations, can now be accredited separately from the Environmental NGO community, and enjoy the same rights and privileges as other NGOs.  Also, youth can make interventions in plenary sessions during the UNFCCC climate negotiations.