OVER 1,000 YOUTH DESCEND ON COPENHAGEN FOR UN CLIMATE TALKS

10 December is "Young and Future Generations Day"; Highlights Youth Call for Climate Action

COPENHAGEN -- Hundreds of youth from around the world will celebrate “Young and Future
Generations Day” with the UNFCCC at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference on
Thursday, December 10. More than 1,000 young people from over 100 countries are attending
the UN Climate Summit calling for bold climate leadership by their governments. Their
collective vision is to protect their future and the lives of future generations threatened by
climate change.

Organised in partnership between the YOUNGO (youth) constituency and the UNFCCC
secretariat, Youth and Future Generations Day seeks to send a powerful message of
intergenerational equity to COP15 delegates, as well as highlighting the vital role of youth as
both advocates for, and implementers of climate solutions. Highlights of the day will include an
Intergenerational Inquiry with Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, as well as the
launch of "Growing Together in a Changing Climate", a publication featuring efforts by youth
and the UN to engage young people on climate issues. Side events through the day will
showcase Youth and Student Movements' leadership on climate, the role of education, and
youth voices on deforestation and degradation (REDD).

“Today’s youth will live their lives with the decisions made in Copenhagen, and our
governments have a moral responsibility to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding deal”, said
Prisca Randriamampihavana, a 20 year old youth delegate from Madagascar. "We want to ask
world leaders, how old will you be in 2050?"

UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Yvo de Boer adds that “Young people...have brought their
energy and creativity to the intergovernmental process, demanding concrete action from their
governments.”

The year 2009 has seen an explosion of youth climate advocacy, and the emergence of what
many youth in Copenhagen are calling the “International Youth Climate Movement,” joining
hundreds of youth organizations and climate advocates from around the world.
On 10 December, visit youth and youth organizations at the Youth Arcade and find out what
they are already doing to tackle climate change and how you can engage with them on
working towards solutions.

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Uberman Project

Interesting Project from the Philippines about environmental and livelihood sustainability: Uberman Project.

The Uberman Project is not just about us – it’s about ALL OF US in an interconnected world supporting each other’s efforts for global good. We would like to think that just as a plain grain of sand can seed a lustrous pearl, so can we, a group of ordinary people catalyze change; here, now and constantly.


For more details, visit: http://www.ubermanproject.com/aboutus.php

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Historic UN climate change conference kicks off in Copenhagen

Historic UN climate change conference kicks off in Copenhagen

Copenhagen (Denmark), 7 December 2009 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference kicked off today in Copenhagen with a strong sense of confidence that countries can seal a comprehensive, ambitious and effective international climate change deal in Demark and with an unprecedented sense of urgency to act on climate change.

The highly anticipated conference marks an historic turning point on how the world confronts climate change, an issue with profound implications for the health and prosperity of all people.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced that 110 heads of state and government will attend the conference at its conclusion.

The Prime Minister pointed to the fact that climate change knows no borders. "It does not discriminate, it affects us all," he said. "And we are here today because we are all committed to take action. That is our common point of departure - the magnitude of the challenge before us is to translate this political will into a strong political approach," he added.

The two-week meeting, the fifteenth Conference of the 193 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the fifth meeting of the 189 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, is the culmination of a process set in motion in Bali, where Parties to the UNFCCC agreed to conclude negotiations on a new global deal in Denmark in 2009.

As the conference kicked off, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report with Lord Nicholas Stern showing that the gap between countries' strongest proposed cuts and what is needed may be only a few billion tonnes of greenhouse gases.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner arrived in Copenhagen on 5 December with the CO2-free Climate Express , a train from Brussels that brought together more than 400 activists, environmentalists and business leaders to discuss the challenges ahead to tackle climate change.

Other passengers on the train included James Leape, Director General of WWF and Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of the International Union of Railways. The Climate Express was welcomed upon arrival in Copenhagen by the new Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Lykke Friis, Søren Eriksen, CEO of the Danish Railways (DSB), and Kim Carstensen, Leader of WWF International's Global Climate Initiative.

Upon arrival in Copenhagen, Mr Steiner opened the UNEP Climate Maze, a giant labyrinth in the city centre made up of hundreds of cloth banners stamped and signed by Seal the Deal! campaign supporters. The accompanying photo exhibition, Hard Rain, is a stark exploration of the state of our planet and its people at this critical time.

The urgency to act in Copenhagen was underscored by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who told the conference that global emissions would need to peak by 2015 for the world to stay below a two degrees Celsius temperature rise. "The costs of responding to climate change will become progressively higher as time goes on, therefore we must take action now," he said.

"We have reached the deadline and there is no going back", said newly elected COP President and Danish COP 15 Minister Connie Hedegaard. "Copenhagen will be the city of the three C's: 'Cooperation', Commitment' and 'Consensus'. Now is the time to capture the moment and conclude a truly ambitious global deal. This is our chance. If we miss this opportunity, we will not get a better one," she said.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said there was unprecedented political momentum for a deal.

"World leaders are calling for an agreement that offers serious emission limitation goals and that captures the provision of significant financial and technological support to developing countries," he said. "At the same time, Copenhagen will only be a success if it delivers significant and immediate action that begins the day the conference ends."

According to the UN's top climate change official, negotiators must focus on solid and practical proposals that will unleash prompt action on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries and capacity-building.

Yvo de Boer spoke of three layers of action that governments must agree to by the end of the conference: fast and effective implementation of immediate action on climate change; ambitious commitments to cut and limit emissions, including start-up funding and a long-term funding commitment; and a long-term shared vision on a low-emissions future for all.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an aggregate emission reduction by industrialised countries of between minus 25% and 40% over 1990 levels would be required by 2020 in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change, with global emissions falling by at least 50% by 2050. Even under this scenario, there would be an only a 50% chance of avoiding the most catastrophic consequences.

"Industrialised countries meeting under the Kyoto Protocol need to raise the level of ambition of developed countries with regard to individual targets and the need to make rapid progress on the tools and rules that developed countries can use to reach their targets, such as carbon market mechanisms, land use and land use change and new gases," said Yvo de Boer.

The UNFCCC working groups starting Monday will have six days to conclude negotiations before the Ministerial High Level Segment starts 16 December.

Ministers will then in turn have two days to take any unresolved issues forward before the more than 100 world leaders arrive the evening of 17 December. This means a total of eight negotiating days to prepare a workable package that consists of both immediate and long-term components which leaders can endorse on 18 December.

More than 15,000 participants, including government delegates from 193 Parties to the UNFCCC and representatives from business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions, are attending the two-week gathering.






Further Resources

Report launched with Lord Nicholas Stern

Climate Express Train

Climate Maze

UNEP COP15 stories & photo galleries

Seal the Deal! campaign

UNFCCC

COP15 website

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December 8th, 2009

Hope for deal at conference
“A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister said on Monday – the first day of the UN climate change conference.
Marianne Bom 07/12/2009 16:25

The UN climate change conference opened Monday in an atmosphere of hope for a deal in Copenhagen within the next two weeks.

“A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in his opening speech, stressing that the talks will have to overcome deep distrust between rich and poor nations on how to share the burden of curbing emissions.

The presence of more than a hundred world leaders meant “an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.

At a press briefing, the President of the UN climate change conference, Connie Hedegaard, said that “the deadline is working,” referring to the fact that both developed and developing countries had been presenting emission reduction targets ahead of the conference.

Asked if there is enough time to reach a deal in Copenhagen, Connie Hedegaard said that you never feel you have sufficient time for a task that has to be done, but “within the time we have, we must solve the task”.

Besides commitments to cut emissions, a major aspect of the negotiations is financing of mitigation and adaptation to climate change in developing countries. At the press briefing UN’s top climate negotiator Yvo de Boer said that the talks are about the amount of money needed from the developed countries. Yet another important issue is “how do we allocate the still limited resources,” according to him.

On the 17th and 18th of December, 110 heads of states and governments will come to Copenhagen in an attempt to seal a political global climate deal. If a deal is agreed, the UN will aim at transforming it into a legally binding text to replace the Kyoto Protocol as its regulations of emissions expires in 2012.

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United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - COP 15

United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - COP 15



The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) will be a turning point in the fight to prevent climate disaster. The science demands it, the economics support it, future generations require it. In early December, negotiators, ministers and world leaders will assemble in the Danish capital to give the people of all nations a strong answer to this common, global threat of climate change.

Yvo de Boer COP 15


I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Danish government for its generous invitation to host this fifteenth United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and the enormous commitment and work it has shown to make it a success. The time for climate action is now, at Copenhagen.

Yvo de Boer
Yvo de Boer
UNFCCC Executive Secretary

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Train from Kyoto to Copenhagen to Raise Awareness of Climate Change Ahead of Crucial UN Conference

Paris/Nairobi, 24 September 2009 - The International Union of Railways (UIC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the global conservation organization WWF today launched the symbolic one-month and nearly 9,000 kilometre-long train journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen to document the impacts of climate change and raise awareness of low-carbon transport solutions.

The project is done in partnership with the Seal the Deal! campaign led by the United Nations to galvanize political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate agreement at the UN climate change conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen in December this year.

Train operators from around the world will participate in the Train to Copenhagen campaign with the aim of raising awareness of transport's influence on climate change.

The transport sector is major producer of CO2 emissions, already accounting for over one-fifth of global CO2 emissions. These emissions are projected to double within only 40 years. Railways are crucial in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in developing sustainable transport systems.

The campaign will kick off on 5 November with the UIC Climate Change and Rail Seminar in the Japanese city of Kyoto - the birthplace of the current Climate Change Protocol, the current commitment period of which is due to end in 2012. The message for COP15 participants will be carried to Copenhagen through a symbolic rail journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen.

During the train journey through Russia, environmental experts and climate change campaigners will send eye-witness accounts of global warming signs underway. Siberia is a global climate change "hotspot", where thawing permafrost and melting peat bogs could slowly release billions of tons of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the coming years.

On 5 December in Brussels, the Climate Express will take on board more than 400 climate change negotiators, campaigners and other high-profile personalities going to Copenhagen to participate in COP 15, for a 12-hour on-track conference focusing on how we can solve the challenges posed by the transport sector with regard to global warming.

On arrival to Copenhagen, the Climate Express, which will be powered by 100% renewable energy, will remain at Copenhagen Central Station throughout the two-week conference, serving as a mobile exhibition open to the public about low-carbon transport solutions.

Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC, said: "The Train to Copenhagen team has one goal: bringing people to Copenhagen and bringing COP15 to the people. Taking the train is part of the solution in combating global warming. Trains are the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, so why would you travel by any other means to the one event in 2009 that can make a difference to the planet's future."

UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: "We are on the road to nowhere if existing policies and economic models prevail with their over emphasis on private cars and on shifting shipments of goods to the roads. The Train to Copenhagen project is a showcase of sustainable transport solutions that will be part and parcel of a resource-efficient, low-carbon Green Economy of the 21st Century. By Sealing the Deal on an ambitious climate agreement in Copenhagen, governments will get into gear to propel the world to a low-carbon future so that societies may also finally embark on a journey to more sustainable transport."

Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said: "It is clear that business as usual is not an option if we want to reverse current trends and prevent catastrophic climate change. If we can really integrate the costs of pollution into the price of transportation, rail will be a big winner."

Kim Carstensen, Leader of WWF's Global Climate Initiative, said "The Train to Copenhagen is symbolic of the long journey we have taken in addressing climate change since Kyoto. We know where we are heading, but world leaders need to add much more steam to guarantee a fair, ambitious, and binding climate deal in Copenhagen."

Notes to Editors:

The Climate Express project is launched in conjunction with Global Climate Week (21-25 September) organized by the United Nations (http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/global-climate-week) and the UIC Energy Efficient Days 2009 (23-25 September) in Tours, France (http://www.energy-efficiency-days.org).

A number of UIC members are undertaking local Train to Copenhagen campaigns facilitating transportation to the COP15 for national delegations and other participants, including special fares. Check your local railway company for more information or www.traintocopenhagen.org

For more information contact:

At UIC: Delphine Margot, on tel.: +33 1 44 49 20 55, or email margot@uic.org; or

Liesbeth de Jong, on tel.: +33 1 44 49 20 53, or email dejong@uic.org

At UNEP: Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, on mobile +41 79 596 5737 or email nick.nuttall@unep.org ; or

Xenya Scanlon, Information Officer, on mobile +254 721 847 563 or email xenya.scanlon@unep.org

At WWF Owen Gibbons, Campaign Leader, Global Deal Campaign,

on tel.: +4122364 9075; or email ogibbons@wwfint.org

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Six powerful voices. Four stunning continents. One compelling message.

Six powerful voices. Four stunning continents. One compelling message.

Let's make 2009 the year the world finds an answer to climate change.
The numbers don’t sound big, but their effects could be cataclysmic. A 2C rise above pre-industrial levels would see 20-40% of the Amazon die off within 100 years. A 3C rise would see 75% of the forest destroyed by drought over the following century, while a 4C rise would kill 85%. (Nature Geoscience).

However – there is good news. The worst of global warming can still be avoided if Greenhouse gases levels are cut substantially.
Look at the inspiring figures here who have joined the Seal the Deal! campaign and given us their time, talent and energy to help make the world a better place.
We look forward to seeing your name here too.
The Seal the Deal campaign team!

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