UNFCCC organise youth side event

Rachna Lal, USP journalism, Climate Pasifika media

Thursday 10 December 2009, Copenhagen -- The intergenerational Inquiry on Climate Solutions between negotiators and youth lead to an agreement that both sides wanted a legal binding agreement. Despite reservations on some issues, both parties at the side event organized by UNFCCC hoped that good sense will prevail. Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary to the UNFCCC said  110 heads of states will be coming to the COP15 "because they see the growing public response to the need for an agreement."
“The response to climate change will be a reflection of what world leaders think they need in order to satisfy you, the youth so that further in years, they will get chosen again,” he said. India's Ruchi Jane received a standing ovation after giving an account of how India is suffering from climate change extremities. Rikana Toroma from Cook Islands, here in Copenhagen as part of  Project Survival Youth (above) believes focus should move from the bigger countries to smaller ones. Small island nations are at the forefront of the real impacts of climate change. While on one hand youths are protesting to get a legal agreement, Ilisia Montalvo SantaMaria believes youth should become more responsible first by changing their behavior. “They push for negotiators to make a deal yet their behavior states otherwise. They must change their eating habits, and also be prepared to get accustomed to living an uncomfortable life,” added SantaMaria, the Director-General of Spanish Climate Change Office at the Ministry of Environment.--ENDS