Group of eight attended talks, helped create youth climate statement
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 14 Dec 10;
CANCUN (MEXICO): A 'G-8' observer group closely followed this year's UN climate talks at this Mexican resort.
Not the G-8, but a G-8, and its members are all Singaporeans, aged 17 to 28, who want to champion climate issues.
They were in Mexico from Nov 29 when the UN talks began to broker a global treaty to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The two-week event ended last Saturday with 193 nations agreeing to take modest but significant steps towards saving the planet. The Cancun Agreements also created a fund to help poor countries handle the effects of climate change.
The eight Singaporeans - picked by homegrown environmental NGO Eco Singapore, based on their essays and presentations on these issues - had to pay more than $3,000 each for flights and accommodation.
In Cancun, they did not flinch from tackling the steep learning curve of grasping complex issues and technical conference language.
Before the start of each day, the group studied conference material, attended the sessions, absorbed the key issues and tracked down powerful negotiators to interview and interact with.
All their activities were captured on a blog - (http://unfcccecosingapore.wordpress.com) to share developments with friends back home. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook were also tapped.
The Singaporeans, some of whom will arrive home today, also initiated meetings with youth counterparts from other Asean countries at Cancun, to come up with a youth climate statement.
'We want to have our voice at the meetings and this is the voice of the youth speaking to our governments,' said Teh Yi Ying, 17, a Victoria Junior College (VJC) student.
The youth statement, which recommended that climate change education be integrated into the school curriculum across Asean, was presented to the bloc's member delegations in Cancun before the close of the conference last Saturday. Yi Ying, president of VJC's environmental club Earthwatch, said she jumped at the chance to attend the United Nations talks as she wanted to understand the issues more intimately.
Eco Singapore is the first local youth NGO delegation involved in the UN climate meetings under the UN's youth constituency, known as UN Youngo.
Eco Singapore president Wilson Ang, 28, attending his fifth UN climate meeting, was instrumental in setting up the group.
After the 2008 meeting in Poland, he said, he saw a need for youth to be part of the process and initiated a discussion with the UN. This led to the UN Youngo, a youth network that now spans countries across the globe.
'I wanted a stronger youth presence in the negotiations, especially an Asian one. Our presence here also helps to strengthen Singapore and Asean's position,' he said.
'We also raise awareness back home by sharing what we've experienced at these high-level meetings.'
Last Friday, in Cancun, the Singaporeans met Senior Minister S. Jayakumar and Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim for a dialogue.
An entry in their blog said: 'Speaking candidly on several issues, Professor S. Jayakumar gave an overview of the current negotiations from Singapore's point of view and shared key points from his statement...He also expressed interest in youth participation and initiative in tackling climate change back in Singapore, especially in generating a bottom-up movement.'
Former Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student Lee Zhe Yu, 20, who has just completed his national service, said the group also took the opportunity to present the Asean youth statement on climate change to ministers.
'The ministers were interested in our youth participation and encouraged us to take an active role in reducing Singapore's carbon footprint,' he added.
