Young and future generations day at the UNFCC - photo by Robert van Waarden

The UN Climate Change Conference has entered its 5th day now. The Bella Center buzzes with people, delegates are rushing through the hallways, observer organizations- turned – activists are protesting as aliens, mumbling ‘Bring me to your leader’. In the big halls, hundreds of people are focused on their laptop, blogging discussing, most of them not more than a few hours of sleep last night.

If you are not aware that this is the Mother of all Conferences, – the most important conference since World War 2, and concerning the most complex, all-encompassing issue of our time, – then it looks more like a festival. The positive, energising and slightly stressy atmosphere adds to all of this.

What struck me especially is the enormous amount of young people around, all passionate future leaders.

Attending one of the sessions of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CMP), where delegates update the press and observer organisations about their key stances in the negotiation process, gives me a reality check again, for the seemingly cheerful atmosphere outside the official talks.

The recent panic last days about the leaked Danish draft text, and hysteric reactions from different sides (both developed and developing countries) clearly shows the state of affairs in climate diplomacy in Copenhagen: no recognisable progress on the 5th day of the Conference of the Parties. Developing countries (Annex 2 countries) are continually framing climate justice from an almost neocolonial perspective: they are the victims that will bear the consequences, and they will still have the right to pollute. A reaction by the Danish ambassador Falkenberg, on India’s and China’s view of climate justice, causes some uproar. ‘There is no such thing as the right to pollute’, according to Falkenberg. What about low-carbon development? The issue of climate justice still doesn’t seem to be universally defined…

Might we need even more youth at the next COP to challenge the status-quo diplomats? Should we cheer up the flawed negotiations even more?

From a solar-powered open air cinema, to a sustainable business game or reforestation projects, all initiatives show that students worldwide are taking the lead and providing solutions to tackle climate change.

With this publication, we hope to inspire thought-leaders in business, academia and civil society to acknowledge and support student initiatives that have successfully addressed the issue of climate change.

“This eBook is not only about climate change. It’s about solutions, about students taking the lead.”

Students are not only the leaders for tomorrow – they are especially to be taken seriously today. In this eBook we show that students not only care and talk, they actually take the lead in developing innovations and they reach tangible results, thereby inspiring other people in their local community, or even around the world, to do the same.

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A simple thing such as obtaining a big world map and bringing it to cool people we partner with (Project Survival Media) can mean one has to think out of the box. The same holds true, seeing the practical challenges of the Conference of Youth due to the shear scale of the event (600+ youth), the number of events, and the obvious amount of discussions taking place.

Doing this simple activity turned out to result in other positive outcomes, e.g. bumping into a trusted and recent YES buddy (ACTIS Education) by chance or networking with a person I didn’t talk much with yet from a familiar a student-based coalition (Energy Crossroads Denmark) promoting clean, prosperous, and secure energy sources.

The YouNGO working groups (YouNGO Google Group) were many, the discussions captivating, and the sense of urgency certainly present. Not having accreditation it is at this time not possible for me to enter the Bella Center and follow the COP 15 daily sessions. However, that does not mean that one can not get involved, attend side events, and learn lots!

Here are just a couple of links:

1. Resources & Reading, YouNGO working groups as well as an Overview (unfcccyoungo)
2. Copenhagen Live 24/7 (OneClimate): Video shown live or continually
3. YouthClimate.org, itsgettinghotinhere.org, and
4. COP 15 webcast (live and on demand)
5. Real-time twitter search for “cop15″, “copenhagen”, “youthclimate”, and “iycm” to stay on top of on what is taking place (including rumors), being written, links (different filters for video, twitter, etc.
6. COP15 for journalists: a guide to the UN climate change summit
7. Guide for youth NGOs at United Nations meetings

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blaineo/