Yesterday, Graham Reeder gave an intervention during a plenary of the Subsidiary Body for implementation. Earth in Brackets plans to post videos of Graham’s and Julian’s interventions, so look out.
Thank you chair,
My name is Graham and I am here with College of the Atlantic to speak on behalf of the youth
constituency.
We appreciate the work we have seen to ensure solid outcomes and progress on key issues, but the
ambition on the part of developed countries has not been high enough and has not reflected the amount
of work that all parties have contributed in the last week. Here are some key areas of concern for youth:
———————
On finance, we call for better transparency within the GEF to make information and decisions relating to
amounts and flows of funds easily available. We want fewer obstacles to access of funding in order to
meet the urgent needs of developing countries, Least Developed Countries in particular.
The GEF must address the adaptation gap. We are concerned to see that 3.3 billion dollars have been
given to mitigation projects, and a mere 370 million for adaptation! We cannot wait for the green climate
fund: adaptation needs funding now. We call for an increase of activities under Article 6; the GEF must
ensure funding goes to systematic observations in developing countries,
——————–
We call for fair, equitable, and balanced solutions for the following three topics so that the Technology
Mechanism can become fully operationalized by no later than next year.
Funding for the CTCN must come from an equitable and transparent source with adequate safeguards in
place. Technology Needs Assessments must be accompanied by adequate training and support for
countries that will receive them. And equal attention must be paid to mitigation and adaptation within the
pilot projects under the Poznan strategic programme.
———————-
You have finished the review of Capacity Building but your work is not over. Negotiations so far have not
reflected the fun, passion, motivation and transformative power of Capacity Building that we feel every
day.
Young people are experts on Capacity Building and want to be recognised for our work. We ask that you
explicitly mention youth as experts and practitioners and include stakeholder inputs in reports and reviews.
——————–
Parties have done good work on adaptation. We urge you to accept the AOSIS proposal for language
changes on an international mechanism, the research is there, and youth do not have time to wait for
developed countries to be vague and slow on this matter. We wish to stress that NAPs cannot afford to
suffer from the same dismal implementation strategies as the NAPA process that LDCs are still waiting to
see on the ground, that strong guidance from the Adaptation Committee will be crucial to the success of
NAPs, and that adequate and accessible interim financing will be key as we wait for the development of
the GCF.
——————
We thank the chair for his hard work; he clearly understands the urgency of these issues and noted that
his own parents had lost their home in last year’s floods in Queensland. We urge those developed
country parties who have been slower to compromise and come forward with adequate financing to step
up to the plate and stop bracketing text on urgent issues. Remember that you need us, none of your
implementation strategies will work without the support and engagement of the world’s youth and we will
not stand for flimsy promises and stalled progress.
Finally, We have learned that several UNFCCC Secretariat staff working to liaise with observer
organisations will have to be laid off, with only two colleagues remaining. If governments are sincere
about meaningful participation of observers, then you MUST fulfill your financial pledges and provide ALL
the resources that the Secretariat needs as quickly as possible.