News Flash

Youths join for grassroots effort

By Zhang Yuwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-07 07:20

CANCUN, Mexico - About one and a half months ago, 22 year-old Kevin Osborne, a recent graduate from Seattle University, was in a race against the clock - he was trying to set up an ambitious project called the China-US Climate Exchange for the Cancun climate change summit.

The grassroots initiative brings together more than 30 college-level students and recent graduates from both sides to exchange ideas and enhance cultural understanding - something Osborne believes is lacking in the two countries climate change negotiations.

China and the US - the fastest-developing country and the most-developed nation, respectively - are the two biggest emitters in the world. Many experts say the two play important roles in the climate change negotiations, and should lead the way and push forward the talks in Cancun.

Osborne majored in environmental studies and Chinese and has visited China four times in the past few years. After participating in the COP 15 (UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen) last year on his own dime and meeting the Chinese delegation then, he thinks that a youth forum particularly between China and US should be set up for young people to learn more about each other's cultures.

He then reached out seven climate change nongovernmental organizations - including China Youth Climate Action Network, China Dialogue, SustainUS and Cascade Climate Network - to pull together this initiative.

And his goal was achieved.

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"We want to show the negotiators that the young people from both countries can try to listen and understand our cultural differences, and we want the politicians to do the same," he said.

"We need to continue to build trust (between China and US) - something I don't hear enough from the negotiators."

When the negotiations on major climate change issues continued in the conference rooms, the youth delegates gathered at the side-event venue, working on their agenda with big ideas and ambitious plans, including meeting chief climate negotiators.

In a meeting the members from the Exchange had with US climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing, the youth delegates asked Pershing what challenges China and the US face in the climate talks. Pershing, drawing on his personal experiences in the negotiations, said that the language barrier poses a challenge for the two countries to better understand each other.

One example, he cited, is the word "voluntary" - which is frequently used in the negotiations in greenhouse gas emissions and other areas. The different interpretation of the word in Chinese and English can lead to possible divergence on certain issues.

Chen Yingao, an environmental science major from Peking University, said that the two countries - even with different cultural values and political systems - should try to better understand each other's difficulties and realities in solving climate change.

"The US and China should not persuade each other to follow their own ways, but to work together to establish a new system suitable for both."

The youth delegates have been following closely climate change initiatives in their own countries and been communicating with their peers across the globe to exchange ideas.

Many of them have participated in the major climate talks all the way from Copenhagen to Cancun.

At the Intergenerational Inquiry, one side event which brought together more than 100 youth delegates, UN climate change chief Christiana Figueres pledged her strong support for youth in solving climate change issues.

"We are only borrowing your planet," she said. "This is your planet. We're here to support you."

Hilary Bowman, an Australian student working with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, urged negotiators to work harder on reaching "a tangible Cancun outcome".

"We want an effective post-2012 agreement and we'll do anything and everything to make that happen," said Bowman.

The Exchange by the end of the summit will present their "Shared Action" - an outcome document focused on clean energy's future in China and US.

"It will mainly present the initiatives and progress made by China in the area of clean energy," Chen introduced. The document also includes suggestions for US to follow China's efforts and move forward in this area.