The first week of COP 24 has come to an end, and negotiations have geared up for high-level segments of week 2. As part of the UNFCCC seminar, we had to identify a client to work with during out COP attendance. Naturally, I chose to volunteer for the Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD), a youth-led NGO that I am already a part of. Just to give some context, MYD’s goal is to make the information coming out of climate change negotiations more accessible to the general public in Malaysia, and to hold Malaysian politicians and policies accountable for climate action. I was lucky enough to receive an accreditation from MYD this year, and with four other representatives, covered the ongoings of COP 24.

In anticipation of COP 24, my team and I started gearing up. Even though we received guidelines on what to do during COP 24 and COY 14, I was still confused on our role in COP 24. The first few days had me running around to see to the items I had put on my schedule. I was covering informal consultations, working on YOUNGO deliverables, attending side events, and attempting to write articles. From my perspective, a full schedule that encompassed my university and NGO responsibilities was good enough. I felt like I was actively “doing” something, and fully “representing” MYD. However, I was disconnected from my actions and purpose of being at COP 24. We can’t participate in negotiations, we can’t necessarily “lobby” our point of view, and we are not the press. It was not until mid-week when I started to gain some bearings, as I started observing the activities of other CSOs and youth representatives.

Admittedly, being a part of a youth-led organization can result in some haphazard direction. It was one thing to talk about what MYD’s role at COP is, and another to fulfill that role. I had to revisit my personal objectives constantly, and refine MYD’s game plan at the end of each day. My objectives going into COP 24 was to learn more about adaptation and engage with the CSO network at COP 24. These objectives lined up nicely with MYD’s, which included reporting youth perspectives to the Malaysian public, engaging with the CSO network on behalf of MYD, and building a rapport with the official Malaysian delegation. Every decision I made, I evaluated how it would fit in with the aforementioned goals. It was exhausting to try to keep up with the pace and expectations, but in hindsight, it helped me establish a better idea of my role at COP 24.

 

Meeting Malaysian Negotiators

So, what was my role working with MYD at COP 24? I’d certainly have to address why I decided to fly thousands of miles to Poland and emit tons of CO2 equivalent while I was at it. The three things CSO-related things I took away from my role at COP was as such: 1) Active youth voices are always welcomed and I stepped up to represent my region and community; 2) I was there to provide insight into UNFCCC process in the Malaysian context; 3) I was there to participate as a Malaysian citizen and hold Malaysia’s climate action ambition accountable. In a previous reflection post, I talked about my experience working with YOUNGO peers on drafting the Presidency dialogue “speech”. I do indulge the use inverted commas here because the event, which was supposed to be an open dialogue with constituents and the Polish Presidency, became a mini press conference to “uphold” the spirit of Talanoa. Observing how the other eight constituencies’ concerns not being addressed was a disappointment for me, because the Polish Presidency and the UNFCCC Secretariat should engage with the civil society beyond the People’s Seat. My experience motivated me to take YOUNGO position and deliverables more seriously, for it is a sure way of representing the world’s youth officially to our own capacity.

Delivering YOUNGO statement during the Open Dialogue with the Polish Presidency.

Despite the rough patch with YOUNGO, I had an exciting experience sharing information and collaborating with other youth and NGO representatives. I had the opportunity to participate in a few Climate Action Network (CAN) activities, which included working group meetings and editing the ECO bulletin. As a first-time COP attendee, I was thrilled to be receiving information from people at the forefront of conducting citizen (non-press) reporting, and lobbying for environmental NGO stances to relevant receptors. The experience helped me realign what messages my MYD articles should bring, in terms of tapping into the climate action spirit beyond COP 24.

Which brings me to my third point of holding Malaysia’s climate ambitions accountable. Within the first few days of COP, I wrote a short piece on Malaysia’s climate policies and our 2015 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). In my short article, I acknowledged the climate ambition that Malaysia (and many other Asian countries have), and called out the lack of climate action that connected to the climate goals put forth. Since Malaysia’s newly minted environment minister was set to arrive in week two, I tried engaging with as many Malaysian negotiators to make up for lost contact. When attending informal consultation session, I observed the power dynamic between large and small countries, where conflicts of interests were very much aligned with political stances. Seeing Malaysia’s relatively minor role in the broader negotiations, I could sympathize with organizations and Parties in the same boat. On the flipside, this steers the limelight towards what Parties are conducting on a local level, and how CSOs like MYD should participate in holding Parties accountable for better climate-based policies.

On my plane ride back to Durham, I could not help picturing what MYD’s next step would be and what I could do about it. For one, I want to continue to channel the climate action spirit I have gained from COP 24, and pass it on to others in the process. I would also like to work together with my peers to produce a well-researched proposal on what Malaysia could do better in taking steps to mitigate and adapt. My generation is starting to rise up to be the “future” that I have so often heard about, as we transition away from formative education into the real society. In light of my key takeaway from navigating COP 24 – most things are learned by getting down on the ground with a clear objective in mind. It’s time that we contemplate a little less and start doing much more.