COY 11

Caroline DUPONT – Gap year

student

VEOLIA

27, 28, 29 November 2015

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December 2015

Executive Summary The 27th, 28th and 29th of November I went to the

COY 11 ( the 11th Conference of Youth). This

conference occurs every year before the COP

(Conference of Parties) and gathers young people

from all around the world.

This conference was created by the International

Youth Climate Movement (IYCM), the largest

international network on youth involved on climate

change issues.

In 2009 young people obtained a special status; we

were recognized as a group. This status is really

important because it allows us not only to

strengthen our presence within negotiations but also to take part in it.

And this is the aim of COY. We, the young people, know about the limits of our model of

society, we know what our future is. We are ready to start acting to pave the way to a more

sustainable and desirable society.

As a young woman I wanted to go to this COY in order to get ideas, make contacts and meet

people from all around the world. But mostly to get involved in the environmental process and

try to make things change.

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Contents Executive Summary ........................................................ 1

Contents ......................................................................... 2

Values of the COY ........................................................... 3

Program and topics ........................................................ 4

Manifesto Coy11 ............................................................ 8

Relevant quotes ............................................................ 10

Conclusion .................................................................... 10

Acknowledgment .......................................................... 10

Sources ......................................................................... 11

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Values of the COY I think it is relevant to share the values of the COY.

During those three days I did rely on them and tried

to apply them. But I do also rely on them in my day

to day life.

KNOW YOURSELF: know yourself, meet each

other. Do your own introspection and

identify your strengths and your weaknesses. Approach one another.

GET INSPIRED: discover solutions to change everyday life. Share the experience of

people who have gone for it.

TRAIN YOURSELF: Learn to do. Learn to say. Understand the world. Exchange.

MAKE: Build. Imagine the future. Share messages. Write, draw, sculpt, and paint.

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Program and topics There were almost ten conferences and workshops at the same time every day from 9am until

7pm. It was then hard to select where to go, what to attend to and what to work on. Moreover,

with the amount of participants at the COY it was also very interesting just to sit and talk with

others to get their point of view and understand how they act.

I then attended and went to the following workshops.

Opening ceremony :

With Patrick Kanner – French Minister of Cities Youth and Sports, Ahamad Alhendawi-

United nations Secretary General’s envoy on Youth, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez- Young activist

and Earth guardian.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez delivered a very inspiring speech. He has been an activist since he was

6 years old. He is mobilizing teens in 25 countries to ask for greener policy from our world's

leaders under the banner of Earth guardians. He and his team are using music, words and

direct actions to defend the planet.

Being only 15 he enforces the fact that we are the generation who can make the change, it

does not matter if you are 7 or 30, what matters is to get involved. That trend is called

‘generationryse’. By signing petitions, attending meetings, using direct actions, or just

simples actions such as not using plastic bags we can make changes. He gave us a list of easy

tasks that everyone can do but will have a massive impact if everyone would do it:

- Minimise the use of aerosols

- Try to minimize the use of paper towels or napkins

- Use reusable bags

- Carpool and ride-share when possible

- Think about community gardens

- Use a reusable water bottle instead of a plastic one

- …

‘WARN! Innov’ Consumption’:

This workshop was really interesting. It was about how to improve our way of consumption, our

way of living.

In France a new business is flourishing, the ‘vrac’ business or ‘day by day’. The aim is to get rid

of wraps, plastic bags and containers. The idea is to go shopping with your own containers and

fill them with what you need to buy. This is a very good idea, because it saves money (no more

plastic bags charges) but also reduces the amount of cardboard and plastic used in the food

industry. It also reduces considerably the amount of waste because it is easier just to buy the

amount of food that you need.

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RECO :

This workshop was about how we can impact on climate change at our level in an

efficient way. We have been able to sit down with small businesses (mainly start-ups)

and give them ideas on what we think could be interesting to do. The main aim was thus

to raise awareness to everyone about actions that soften, help the adaptation or

increase climate change.

One of the main ideas that were mentioned was a new way to recycle cardboard: using

paper wrap instead of bubble warp.

As you may know some councils do not recycle bubble wrap, so sometimes it goes

straight to landfill and which is not environmentally friendly.

Bubble wrap is made from polythene, as manufactured plastic. It is used to make bags,

transparent film, bottles, clothes and other packaging materials. The issue is that unless

treated with chemicals that break down the plastic, polythene is not biodegradable. But

is it recyclable, it can be collected, crushed, compacted and melted in order to be turned

into black bin bags or tables or plastic objects such as pens. It cannot be burned,

because it will release bad smoke and pollute the air.

According to the British Plastics Federation, the UK uses more than five million tonnes of

plastic each year but only an estimated 24% is recycled. In contrast, in the UK more

than 80% of cardboard boxes are recycled. It is also easier to recycle cardboard.

So instead of using bubble warp some students decided to replace it by paper wrap. And

it works as well as plastic.

Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times this has a massive

impact on the climate change and by using less plastic we can reduce this impact.

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ZERO WASTE FRANCE:

Zero waste France is a Non-Governmental Organisation which incentivises a zero waste

society. Their motto is simple but really effective: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’

In order to achieve this goal they do promote home/office composting.

What is the benefit of composting?

Firstly it improves the soil structure; it creates nutrients that help the plants to grow

stronger. Compost can also prevent erosion. Moreover it is better not to put fruits and

vegetables scraps, eggshells, and fallen leaves in the refuse bags. It damages the quality

of what is recyclable and they do produce methane when they ferment what damages

even more the environment.

How to create our own compost?

The ideal spot for a compost pile is a shady one, so that materials do not dry out.

Then you need to pick your spot and start building the pile.

The base layer needs to be composed by wood, brown ingredients, corn stalks so that it

promotes aeration.

Between each layer some water is needed.

Green material can be added such as dry leaves or shredded paper.

The aim is to alter each layer with brown and green materials.

BYE BYE Plastic bags:

It was founded in 2013 by two sisters, again very young, Isabel and Melati Wjisen. It is

an initiative to ban all plastic bags from Bali. It is a massive problem as plastic bags are

directly spread on beaches and go in the see. It kills many see species and damages the

quality of living in this paradise island. And it is getting worse every year.

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But thanks to those two sisters things are changing. A petition was signed to get rid of

plastic bags in Bali and more than a million people signed it.

Some renewable bags have been given to the shops and people of Bali so that they do

not need any plastic bags.

Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to break down. It is a massive threat. To my point

of view the only way to get rid of plastic bags according to me is not to charge them as

we do here in the UK (because people still buy them) use them for a short period of

time and then get rid of them. The solution is to stop producing them.

Connected COYs and Simulation Cop 21 :

We organised a simulation of the Cop 21 with many different countries.

The topic of the negotiation was to get under +2 °C of global warming temperature

increase by 2100 and how to reduce carbon emissions too.

I was part of the developed countries with youth from Germany, Japan and New-

Zealand.

We had much information and had to agree on some figures such as the percentage of

carbon emissions reduction we would agree on every year, how much money we would

agree to give to improve afforestation and stop deforestation and whether we would

agree to share knowledge and money with developing countries?

The negotiation lasted 3 hours, 3 negotiations phases and obviously we did not reach

the objective. We did arrive to 2.5°C. But it was not enough. It was a very good way to

see that it is not that simple to gather 140 countries in a room and ask them to find a

suitable solution for our future. Everyone sticks to its own business and is not really

willing to make compromises. This simulation was very interesting because we dealt

with geopolitical issues but also were out of our comfort zones and were working in a

short time. I really loved it and would like to do some more simulations like this in the

future.

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Moreover, during those 3 days we were able to log on computer and Skype with COY all

around the word. There were COY going on in Montreal, Rabat, Florianopolis, Abomey

Calavi, Antananarivo, Noumea and Tokyo. Once again they were doing the same as we

were doing in Paris but in a different way. It was good to share their ideas and see even

how they were affected by climate change.

Croix rouge : An introduction to risk reduction. How to manage stress.

The objective of this course was to be able to anticipate the consequences of a disaster

or a sinister.

I was in a group of 5 international young people. It was a very strong moment because

everyone had to share a personal disaster moment and explain how they dealt with it.

We had to try to define what a disaster is and try to explain how we would or do react

to a special type of disaster. We discussed several topics such as:

- How to auto-protect ourselves in a disaster

- How to create a ‘safety bag’

- The major risk in a personal or professional environment.

- How to alert rescues how to give first aid and many other points

This was really interesting especially after the Paris’s terrorist attacks. Everyone was

really willing to learn how to deal with a difficult situation but also how to improve

themselves. I believe it was not just for disaster but also for whatever happens in our

day to day lives.

Manifesto Coy11 Before going to the COY some of the organizers asked us if we wanted to get involved in the

writing process of the manifesto of the COY. The aim of the manifesto is for youth to think and

work on strategic themes that matters for the future. This document is produced before COP21

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so that the whole world can listen and be aware of the youth recommendations and actions.

The document was given to the president of France, Nicolas Hulot and Ban Ki-Moon.

There were 8 different topics: education, human rights, conservation, environmental law,

adaptation, youth inclusion, energy, sustainable food production.

We had to choose one of them and start working on it with people from all around the world. It

was a two weeks’ commitment before the COY to create a draft and then prepare the

negotiation we will have during the COY.

I then decided to join the youth inclusion workshop. I believe this is an important theme Youth

are not included as much as they should be. Two reasons for that: some of them are not

involved in our common future, don not really care or are maybe lacking some relevant

information. But also youth are not included by choice sometimes, by elders.

I was then working in a team of 8 people from South Africa, Togo, Morocco, Australia and India.

We decided to use the platform ‘Slack’ to work.

We had to deliver our position and some recommendations on youth inclusion.

‘Nothing about us without us’ this is our position. Any decision that affects our future must be

made with us. We believe we are essential assets to negotiations.

Recommendations (they are also in the main manifesto):

- Youth must be recognized and included in all major decision making processes at all

levels through concrete, permanent positions with equal voting rights in all

decisions.

- Each country should elect/appoint a Youth Ambassador for the climate that

represents the interests of youth in all major decision making processes

internationally.

- Youth should have veto powers with regards to decisions made about our future to

ensure that the decisions are made for the right reasons and not for benefit/ulterior

motives of certain groups/countries.

- Youth must become active citizens and get involved with/ start advocacy groups

within their communities to increase youth participation at a local level and become

drivers of community action.

- Information about current opportunities for youth inclusion and participation in

climate change related matters needs to be disseminated across all communication

channels.

- There must be increased participation from youth in SIDS, LDC’s and minority groups

such as the physically disabled.

- Youth-led initiatives working within the climate change sphere must be recognized

and supported.

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Attached with this report is the final manifesto.

I can say that I am really proud of this manifesto. Everything that we said is relevant and I truly

hope elder people will listen and take action on what we have to say.

Relevant quotes During this conference quotes from international personalities and famous activist have been

mentioned. Those are the ones that were relevant and meaningful for me.

‘Your generation is ready to start building a sustainable society’ Laurent Fabius

‘I ask all young people to encourage leaders to make history by adopting new climate

agreements’ Ahmad Alhendawi

‘What is at stake today is our future’ A young activist

‘My life is a message’ Gandhi

‘Tous ces jeunes venus du monde entier réunis à la #COY11 pour penser le monde de demain me

donnent une energie incroyable. Merci à eux’ Nicolas Hulot

Conclusion

‘As young people we are particularly legitimate to picture the world we want to live in.’

We share an uncertain climate future but it is in our power to change it. One way of doing that

is to inspire people with local sustainable innovations and find solutions together.

If we can gather around thoughts for a sustainable future and use these visions to inspire other

generations we are going to achieve a suitable future in which societies can adapt to climate

change.

This event made me realize that we surely are the generation of tomorrow. We may be the next

leaders. But we do need to take into account that we are here today and we need to act today

for tomorrow. In the last 30 years we damaged the world more than ever and I do not want my

kids or the next generation to wake up one day with no more beaches, polluted seas and very

few natural resources. Everyone at its level can impact on the climate change. It only takes one

step to take part in this amazing process. I want to live in greener and healthier society.

Intergenerational equity debates are important and must be done to achieve everything.

Acknowledgment I would like to thank Vincent Masseri, Peter Brohm and Veolia, to let me go to this conference.

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It was a very good challenging and inspiring event. I came back with plenty of ideas and

thoughts about the future. I also made lots of connections with young people from all around

the world and will probably join of the organizations in the future.

Sources http://daybyday-shop.com/vrac

http://www.paper.org.uk/information/factsheets/corrugated_recycling_landfill.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/module7/making_your_own_compost1.shtml

http://byebyeplasticbag.wix.com/byebyeplasticbags