IYCN Agents of Change – 2009 Report

Agents of Change ‘09

Indian Youth Delegation to COP15

Copenhagen, Denmark

December 4 – 20, 2009

IYCN Agents of Change – 2009 Report

About the organisationThe Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) is a coalition uniting Indian youth and Indian youth oriented organisations who are concerned about climate change. We, as the future leaders of the country can generate awareness and establish consensus on what role India should play in the global debate, and how it should address domestic issues of climate justice and adaptation. It is a monumental effort but one with immense potential. IYCN works on three levels: As a network of individuals allowing people to come together and interact at a grassroots level, form friendships and support each other.As a coalition of member and supporter groups who come under the umbrella group of IYCN, however maintain their autonomy, yet leverage off a national network of young people passionate about the environment and development. As a centralized organisation that runs its own programs and projects, accepts sponsorship and donations and forms partnerships and runs media campaigns.

About Agents of Change

Agents of Change or AoC is one of the flagship programs of IYCN that aims at engaging youth more effectively in the international climate negotiation process. The negotiations are vital to figure out how the world will tackle the issue of Climate Change.

The Agents of Change program began in 2008 when IYCN sent the first ever representatives of the Indian youth to the COP-14 conference in 2008. It was the first time that a delegation from India was participating in the conference and negotiations. Youth from all over the world attend the talks, and the Agents of Change program made sure that the voice of Indian youth was present as well.

Some of the activities that the Indian Youth delegation took part in 2008 are mentioned here.

In 2009, the Agents of Change program sent the second youth delegation to Copenhagen for the Conference of Parties 15 in December 2009. The delegation was chosen through a detailed application process that made sure some of the best young minds made it to Copenhagen for the conference.

HIGHLIGHTSSome of the highlights of the Indian Youth Delegation, prior and during the COP were:

A 20 member delegation from 13 Indian states bringing diversity, expertise and enthusiasm. Organizing the biggest environment campaign on October 24th with 350.org Active participation in the Youth constituency of the UNFCCC – YOUNGO Organizing three side events for the Indian youth and the global south youth to identify

common voices and efforts on the Climate Change. Participating and organizing various spontaneous direct actions with youth from other

countries along with interventions and speeches at high level side events Making submissions to the UNFCCC on Climate Change policy Working with CAN, CANSA, GCCA et al to produce collaborative responses on the negotiations

every day and also interacting with Indian Govt. negotiators Covered by major mainstream media channels from India and other countries Usage of new media for outreach to a big outside audience Funded and supported by NGO’s, Governments and Corporations Active participation in Klima-forum 09-People’s Summit on Climate Change

Application Process

• The application process aimed at selecting a big number of youth from the country who will work towards COP15, not just in Copenhagen but also in India during the conference dates. From a mass of 150 applications across the country, around 90 were chosen as the grounds team for the program and were given chance to perform and win themselves a chance to be part the final delegation of 20 young people.

• The final delegation was selected in the first week of August and work began to prepare as a team for the conference. These 20 delegates ranged from students to social entrepreneurs to young professionals.

• The final chosen delegation was diverse and the selection process made sure equity in merit, age and gender were maintained.

Agents of Change – Retreat

Dates: October 3 and 4 ‘09 The Indian Youth Delegation met in Ahmedabad for 2 days to discuss the

activities, roles and responsibilities of the delegation leading to Copenhagen. This was the first time that the delegation met before Copenhagen and it helped in working together as a team during COP15.

Roles of the Indian Youth Delegation or the IYD prior to the conference, roles of the delegate were discussed. The following table gives an indication of the roles taken up by the delegates for the conference.

Name Working group at the conference Role at the COP

1. Apoorv Swarup Direct Action Policy (Tech Transfer), Direct Action

2. Anand Kumar International Networking Direct Action, outreach through Base camp

3. Aniruddha Sharma Policy Policy,(Mitigation) Communications

4. Arun Patre Media Media, Outreach

5. Deepa Gupta International Networking Outreach, Climate Justice Fast

6. Karan Kashyap Media Digital Campaigning

7. Komalirani Yenneti Policy Policy (Mitigation), Direct Action

8. Leela Raina Policy Policy (Overall), Negotiator Tracker

9. Linkesh Dhawan Political Strategy Direct Action, Climate Justice Fast

10. Prakhar Goel Direct Action Direct Action, Policy(SBI)

11. Rebecca David Policy Policy (REDD), Direct Action

12. Saleem Khan Policy Policy (Adaptation)

13. Snigdha Kar Direct Action Direct Action, Policy (SBSTA,SBI)

14. Swetha Stotra Direct Action Direct Action, Campaigns

15. Sarabjeet Singh Direct Action Digital Campaigning

16. Nistara Randhawa Media Digital Campaigning

17. Swati Hingorani Direct Action Direct Action, Outreach, Policy (REDD)

18. Nishtha Prakash Media Media, outreach

19. Clinton Vaz Direct Action Media, Campaigning

20. Abhishek Nayak Policy Policy (Mitigation), Digital Campaigning

21. Ruchi Jain Media Media, AoC Coordination

22. Chaitanya Kumar Overall Coordination AoC Coordination, Base Camp

Policy

One of the major deliverables for the delegation was to engage with the negotiations at the policy level. This happened through the following ways:

UNFCCC submissions made prior to the Conference.

Indian Youth delegation’s policy paper.

The Indian youth delegation had members following various policy aspects like adaptation, mitigation, Clean Development Mechanism etc.

Direct Action The following are some of the Direct Actions that the delegation took part in December 7, 2009 GCCA Tck Tck Tck 10 million member petition: Carrying building blocks reading ’10 million people expect a

fair, ambitious and binding deal’ a group of youth presented the GCCA Tck Tck Tck petition signed by people from around the globe to Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.

It’s Getting Hot in Here: Dozens of youth congregated outside the Tycho Brahe plenary hall in the Bella Centre for a flash mob dance highlighting the need for urgent action on climate change.

December 8, 2009 Lost and Found Carbon LULUCF action: To highlight the need for Annex 1 countries to account for carbon

emissions from forest management, youth set up a ‘lost and found booth’ in the main hallway of the Bella Centre and urged leaders to make accounting for forest management mandatory in the LULUCF text.

Bed-in: Urging leaders to ‘wake up’, youth lay down outside the plenary hall in their night suits, ‘waking up’ as negotiators left the room and sang "Give Youth A Chance”.

December 9, 2009 Thunderstorm action: Using their bodies, youth created a thunderstorm which can be seen here. Youth

from island countries also gave short speeches urging leaders to take swift action and form a strong deal. December 11, 2009

Mountain Action: South Asian youth formed a human pyramid to depict the steady decline of the Himalayan glaciers and the subsequent impact of this on surrounding countries. The action highlighted the need to preserve and protect mountains and was followed by a song and the signing of a mountain pledge.

Christmas Elf Action: Dressed up as elves and singing “14 days of climate change” (an adaptation of the popular carol 12 days of Christmas), youth working on REDD policy met negotiators outside the plenary hall prior to the final drafting of the REDD text to hand them the youth demands on forests.

Action with Project Survival Pacific: Youth from around the world donned their traditional wear to speak

to leaders and the media about the unique challenges climate change presented for their countries.

December 12, 2009

Global Day of Action on Climate Change: 100,000 people took to the streets of Copenhagen and walked from the Parliament Hall to the Bella Centre calling for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty at COP15.

December 17, 2009

Hunger for Survival: An event in solidarity with the fasters of the Climate Justice Fast and the millions of people around the world who are going hungry and will continue to go hungry due to Climate Change; youth around the world fasted for 24 hours.

A candelight vigil for survival was held on the evening of December 17.

Indian Youth composed and sang a song about the negotiations, saying "I wish I was Bolivian" in reference to Bolivia's strong proposal of limiting Global Warming to 1 deg C, capping atmospheric CO2 at 300ppm, and the call to 100% reductions by 2040 for industrialized nations. As the ambassador exited the hall, they surrounded and serenated him. They were invited to meet the Bolivian President Evo Morales, and did a repeat of the song at Evo Morales' press conference on Thursday the 17th.

December 18, 2009

Climate Shame: Youth gathered outside Øksnehallen, the space allocated to civil society members for the last few days of COP15 with pictures of leaders and banners reading "climate shame" to emphasize the inefficiency of world leaders in tackling the climate crisis.

Impromptu protest at night: In response to the Copenhagen accord forged by a handful of countries, youth gathered outside the Bella Centre and stayed there for approximately 5 to 6 hours urging leaders not to sign the unconstitutional deal.

Youth at an incredible march with 100,000 non violent protesters on the streets of Copenhagen , calling for Climate Justice and a Real Deal at COP15!

Youth calling for the survival of island nations

Indian Youth at a side event

Indian Youth with Uday Khemka

Other actions

Plantations Are Not Forests REDD action: Indian youth participated in an action to stress the need for clarity on the definition of forests in the REDD text.

Safeguard the Safeguards: Youth gathered outside the plenary hall to urge negotiators to formalize safeguards in the REDD text.

REDD choir: Youth working on REDD policy gathered outside an initial REDD drafting meeting to urge leaders to fix the REDD deal and protect natural forests and indigenous rights.

United Flag Action: Holding up flags from different countries the youth conducted a silent sit-in in the main hallway of the Bella Centre to express their dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the negotiations.

The Yesman action was done in the Hopenhagen center. This was a press meet where the Yesman spoke to the international media as the officials of coke and told them that

though they were one of the main sponsors for Hopenhagen and displayed themselves as a bottle of hope, they were actually a bottle of despair.

This link has a part of the video.

The rag pickers action was done by the rag picker association. They wanted to show how India is better at recycling thanks to the rag pickers. They did an action where they showed though the waste was mixed they separated everything and packed them separately.

Media In the days leading up to Copenhagen and during the conference, Indian youth received a fair amount of media

attention for their activities. The following is a list of media links that captured the work of the delegation pre and during COP15.

The Deccan Chronicle – December 7th

The Deccan Chronicle – December 3rd

The Bangalore Mirror – December 17th

The World Watch Institute – December 8th

The Indian Express – December 13th

The Hindu - November 19th

Silicon India Blog – December 8th

The India Journal – December 17th

Mother Earth Rights – December 14th

Gandhtitopia Forum– December 12th

Planet Call Blog - December 12th

Rediff Online – December 16th

The Hindu - June 22nd

Media

The Times of India - October 5th

The Elites TV – December 14th

Inter Press Service – December 9th

The Tribune India – January 3rd

NDTV India – December 14th

Media

IYD developed Content Besides the news coverage on mainstream media, the delegation compiled its own

database of videos, images of the activities at the COP.

All the images are shared here.

All the videos are shared here.

Thanks to the efforts of the digital campaigning team and their dedication, the experience of the IYD has been captured well.

Fresh Air center, a GCCA created hub for online and tech savvy campaigners proved to be a vital source of information that the delegation made use of and also contributed to.

More from the IYD The conference of parties in Copenhagen has left a lasting impression on

the minds of the Indian Youth Delegation.

Individual reports and experiences of the delegation can be read on www.iycn.in

Their twitter posts can be read on www.twitter.com/iycn

The series of blog posts on COP15 can be found at www.whatswiththeclimate.org

Sponsors

We would like to express our gratitude to the following sponsors who made it possible for the delegation to attend the conference.

University of Technology, Sydneyhttp://www.uts.edu.au/

Government of Denmarkwww.ambnewdelhi.um.dk/en

Climate Action Network(South Asia)www.climatenetwork.org

Bajaj, Indiawww.bajajauto.com

Excel Crop Care Limitedwww.excelcropcare.com

Voltaswww.voltas.com

India Carbon Outlookwww.india.carbon-outlook.com

Acara Institutewww.acarainstitute.org

Sponsors & Supporters We would like to express our gratitude to the following sponsors and supporters

who helped us implement the program

Global Campaign for Climate Action(GCCA)www.gc-ca.org

South Asian Youth Environment Network(SAYEN)www.sayen.org

350www.350.org

Supporters Rashi Jain – Photography and digital campaigning with the Indian Youth

Delegation IYCN team from India Rishab Khanna, Surendran Balachandran, Roselin Dey and Will Bates from

350.org Kartikeya Singh from the Government of Maldives delegation, IYCN Caroline Howe from IYCN and YOUNGO Ekta Kothari from Project Survival Media Anna Da Costa from The World Watch Institute