Fri May 18, 2012
Demonstrating for LIFE
Going for the Green in Copenhagen
By Fabio Stevanato, Belgium – December 2009
Two weeks ago, 36 members of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) left their homes for Copenhagen armed with high hopes and great expectations about making a difference in the world. They had a clear and effective strategy: to fight for the most ambitious and comprehensive agreement possible that would favourably protect developing countries and the Alliance of Small Islands States – arguing that CO2 emissions should peak before 2015 and developed countries must reduce emissions by 40% by 2020, 85% by 2050 using 1990 levels as a baseline.
We looked forward to celebrating the favourable outcome of at least some of our concerns at what was billed “the most important political event of all time.” Instead, as the 1400 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 3000 media people return to their respective homes, we ended up celebrating something very different.
What we didn’t anticipate was the rhetoric and the lack of adequate will to positively commit to slowing global warming. In particular, Sudan, on behalf of the G77 group continued to block negotiations of any sort, opposing any pledge or commitment for emerging economies states. Canadian representatives were also very proactive in denying the urgency for a legally binding agreement while supporting its own national interests that are based on its oil revenues.
We quickly came to understand just how difficult group it would be for groups as passionate as ours to effectively influence the negotiations. Moreover many of the meetings were closed and, it was impossible for FYEG delegates to even hear the agendas being discussed.
We decided that the only way to denounce the lack of political will and the obstructionism of several states was by using the media as a platform to get our message across to government representatives inside the Bella Centre. Along with other youth delegations, we organized protests inside the conference facility, expressing our support for countries like Tuvalu that is currently threatened by global warming and may disappear off the face of the planet.
Working alongside the YOUNGO Constituency which gathers young NGOs and delegations from all over the world, we developed a unified, coherent voice that enabled us to bring our message to be heard inside at one of the plenary sessions. Our presentation received the full support of the UNFCCC Secretariat who recognised the fundamental role played by young people as the most courageous and ambitious actors during the negotiations.
We also drafted a position paper including the different issues we wanted to be addressed as part of the negotiations. This paper was written with the most vulnerable countries in mind and it aimed to limit global warming to 1.5 degree above pre-industrial levels and to scale up financial and technological resources for poor countries.
We also joined several peaceful protests aimed at highlighting the undemocratic and unfair nature of the COP. Although the Danish authorities tried to stop us through unnecessary violent actions, we were nonetheless convinced that our fight was legitimate and necessary in order to bring new solutions and answers to those who clearly did not address our concerns.
The last few days of the COP were extremely disappointing as we remain very concerned that once again it is the few powerful countries dictating to the less powerful nations who don’t often have a voice. The meaningless political agreement between President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao may be welcomed by many delegates and leaders, the FYEG does not accept an agreement that has no legal force, is vague on crucial details and is not democratic at all. The only positive decision made was in making $100 billion available to developing countries by 2020.
The FYEG will continue to support our ideals and values and intend to participate in the Bonn negotiations next June to make sure that our voices will be heard and we are given another chance to fulfil the expectations of millions of green activists and people across the planet.
*The Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) was founded in 1988 in Belgium, with the purpose of bringing together young environmental and Green political groups from all over Europe to encourage both mutual understanding and mutual action to promote a greener Europe. Its office is located in Brussels, the political heart of the EU. The purpose of the federation is to strive for environmental and social justice. FYEG has grown enormously from it’s small but ambitious beginnings with just a few Member Organisations (MOs) from both Eastern and Western Europe. It now has 38 MOs from all parts of Europe. MOs vary in size, having from 70 to thousands of members. Organisations are either the youth wings of Green Parties or environmental non-governmental youth organisations (youth NGOs)
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