I’m sitting here inside Moon Palace at COP16, the heart of the climate negotiations, on the final day of the Cancun conference.

It’s an eerie feeling, the place is packed to the brim, but at the moment almost all national delegations are locked up in negotiation rooms.

Everyone is on their laptops, frantically checking their phones for any updates or breaking news. The press linger hungrily around the entrance points, hoping to catch that glimpse of a world leader.

No one is certain what will happen. No one is even certain if this conference will finish at the scheduled time.

Parties worked throughout the night, and a huge amount of persistence and dedication has gone into just ensuring a conclusion to this conference is in sight.

Here at COP16, it’s a world unto itself. Everyone can sense the magnitude of this moment.

For even though expectations were low and ambitions modest in this conference – these are purely relative to the immense overarching problem of climate change.

Individually, these issues currently being negotiated are huge.

They involve the future of the world’s tropical rainforests – and the livelihoods, cultures and species that rely on them.

The future relationship between the Global North and the Global South is being  determined, and $100 billion a year is what is currently at stake and being discussed in meeting rooms at this moment.

The issue of helping vulnerable peoples affected by climate change adapt to the new harsher planet is furiously being negotiated as I write.

The momentum and direction of climate negotiations and actions is being created right now.

The credibility of the UN as an able body to act on the world’s greatest crisis is on the line.

Though modest in ambition compared to last year’s fateful Copenhagen summit, Cancun is still an important moment in history.The balanced package that is sought may be a small step in ‘solving’ the looming crisis, but they are necessary and will play a role in determining the future for billions of lives.

Today is important as the required outcomes are so urgent.

I know that over the last two weeks people in Cancun have lived in a little bubble. Wikileaks bores us, yet excites the rest of the world into frenzy. Why care about one charismatic computer geek with a chip on his shoulder against the US? The future of the entire planet and its entire people – our collective future – is at stake.

I guarantee you, in 10, 20, even 50 years from now, Cancun COP16 will be in more history textbooks than Julian Assange. (Or Oprah visiting Australia – seriously, I am so embarrassed about my home country’s media at the moment).

These next few hours will decide how Cancun is described in those textbooks. It will decide how the UNFCCC is remembered and how future climate change conferences will be judged.

It will decide our generation’s legacy – could we agree over the ‘small’ things, or were we just too ineffective at working together?

I could spend days writing down the conflicting, confusing and convoluted thoughts I’ve had on Cancun over the last few days. But like many people waiting inside Moon Palace at the moment, I’m just too tired to even move.

My point is simply stressing that despite lack of media coverage, despite the apparently boring issues being dealt with, despite the modest expectations and at best, relatively small gains to be made, this moment here at Cancun is huge.

This moment is huge for the gentleman from the Congo whose family was suffering; the girl from Haiti whose life has already been impacted; the child from Germany who wanted a more peaceful world; the Canadian who wanted his children to live a better life than him; the local taxi driver who described COP16 as a “wake up call”; the Philippine youth whose homes are already drastically different to what they were five years ago; the Australian who had experienced a increased intensity in bushfires and droughts in only his short life; the Nepalese man who cried as he spoke of how powerless he felt; the boy from Belise who simply said “my life is real, and so am I”; and the hundreds of young people gathered in Cancun to plea for their future.

The weary crowds of people are starting to move now, and meeting rooms are opening up. Cancun is coming to a close, and I hope that this moment has not been missed.

Dear Governments at Cancun,

As the final day of the COP16 Climate change negotiations looms on us, think back to this time last year.

The hope, the momentum, the spirit and the belief that we can act on the greatest crisis facing humanity.

But then you let the world down. All of you were to blame.

You have now let the world down every year for the past fifteen years.

Now it looks like you’re going to let us down again.

You know the science. You know the danger. You know the stories. You know the people affected.

Yet your action remains weak.

You know the damage to your economies. You know the damage to your people. You know the damage to your legacies.

Yet you bicker and delay.

You know your children will have a heavier burden for every day of your inaction. You know of this suffering and you know we are to blame.

Yet you still can’t compromise.

This year you lowered our expectations, told us to only expect small, but necessary, gains. You told us Cancun would be a vital stepping stone to bigger things at Durban COP17 in 2011.

That’s OK, provided you hold up your end of the bargain. Provided necessary progress is made at every opportunity.

But you so far have failed on even that. It is now the final day and negotiations are still in a deadlock. You still haven’t agreed on steps to fight climate change. The modest ‘balanced package’ of a fund to oversee climate aid, ways to slow deforestation, steps to help poor countries adapt to climate change and a mechanism to share clean technologies, remains unfinished.

You appear ineffective and illegitimate as our leaders.

This is the last chance to make progress. No matter how small, if it doesn’t happen here it is too late. Enough won’t happen next year or the year after. Climate Change is already the reality.

Today is your chance to move the world forward. Please, for the sake of the humanity, do something. 

If there is one true success story from Cancun it is young people continuing to stand up and take action on climate change.

It is amazing to see the energy and drive of young people from around the globe over the last two weeks at COP16 Climate negotiations.

Yesterday I attended a forum featuring former Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson and last year’s COP President Yvo de Boer. But they were just the side event – it was the five young people next to them who stole the show.

It was remarkable how articulate and active these people were for their ages – the youngest being twelve and the oldest being seventeen. They mostly came from Latin America and spoke passionately about the reality of climate change they experience on a daily basis.

Coralie from Haiti in particular spoke with conviction and urgency, sharing stories of the changes she has witnessed already in only her short life. She spoke of how she can only just remember rainfall, how there is now no differentiation between summer and winter in Haiti, and how the forest where her and her father once went camping no longer exists.

Twelve year old Walter from Belise captured the mood of these young people when he said softly, “my life is real and so am I,” a statement which exploded in the minds of all those who view climate change from a distance.

It is the reality that young people face which drives them. Young people have the audacity and imagination to look beyond 2020, beyond 2050, and beyond themselves.

As environmentalist and author Bill McKibben told SYM last week, “The youth have the bodies and passion and spirit and mobility; they can cross borders, culture, faith and wealth divides.”

At COP16, the youth – whether they are twelve or twenty-five, have shown an incredible spirit, a passion that has crossed divides that stall their elders.

Last Thursday was Youth and Future Generations Day, and all around Cancun young people mobilized to share their stories, their hopes, and their fears and participated in mass actions that highlighted the urgency required by world leaders.

Japanese youth held an elaborate faux wedding hoping to “renew the love between Japan and the Kyoto Protocol.”

Meanwhile a sea of blue shirts swarmed through the negotiating buildings, through and halls and was seen in all meetings. The shirts read, “You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell me you need more time.” 

Don’t be mistaken, this is not a movement against their parents or grandparents; this is not fuelled by a teen angst. As one fifteen year old speaker at the forum yesterday said to the adults in the room, “We are willing to work with you, are you willing to work with us?”

On Saturday this spirit of cooperation was displayed in the major negotiations. In front of a full meeting hall, with over 100 young people present, nations reached a consensus decision in passing youth recommendations on an article with the UN text.

Article 6, as it’s called, ensures that education for sustainable development is supported – especially outreach education by youth nongovernmental organizations, such as the Scouts. The policy also ensures equity, sustainability and opportunity to young people and women from all backgrounds and cultures.

To waves of applause the young people’s recommendations on the Article were passed, and unified nations in their praise for the efforts of the young.

Robert Owen-Jones, the chair of the negotiations, celebrated the decision and hailed young people as “potent agents of change”.

The future belongs to the young, yet it is the older generations who are determining what this future will be.

If there is one success to emerge from Cancun, it is the true spirit of the young. They have maintained the drive, the momentum and the hope when other felt defeat at the end of Copenhagen’s negotiations last year.

The youth haven’t given up, and have shown they are far from finished.

Mary Robinson urged young people to “confront people with your reality, and their responses to deal with your reality.”

As the COP16 negotiations fast approach a close, it is important to reflect on the reality that young people face. Negotiations and actions on climate change must begin to recognize the importance of young people and their role in dealing with the crisis.

They are the ones who will inherit the mistakes and successes of these current negotiations. Which outcome would you prefer to give your children? How will you be remembered by your grandchildren?

Originally posted on symnews.org.

Finally, some tangible success at COP16!

The first major consensus decision between nations was reached with the help of more than 100 young people from around the world.

Article 6, as it’s called in the UN text, ensures that education for sustainable development is supported –  especially outreach education by youth nongovernmental organizations, such as the Scouts. The policy also ensures equity, sustainability and opportunity to young people and women from all backgrounds and cultures. 

Its adoption by UN negotiators last Friday constituted a victory for transparency and representation on the international stage.

It also strengthens civil society’s involvement in high-level decisions on climate change.

For youth leaders, it was the realization of more than five months work on crafting policies that would appeal to all nations to achieve tangible gains for youth, women and non-formal educational organizations.

Young people from around the globe gathered to observe and participate in the official discussions, giving a rousing applause when it passed.

Danny Hutley from the United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition praised Article 6’s passage, telling the world that Article 6 now meant, “No decisions about us, without us.”

Delagations from around the world were in full support of the propositions, with a delegate from the Dominican Republic even declaring,“When all these young people are expecting an outcome we have to stop fighting over details.  We must reach a decision now.”

Robert Owen Jones, chair of the UN’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI), who oversaw these negotiations, hailed Article 6 as a “good decision.”

Jones met with international youth Monday and said this success highlights that “young people are potent agents of change.”   

Youth active in Article 6 policies included delegates from international organizations such as the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the British Council, the Federation of Medical Students, the European Youth Forum, United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition and Spire (Norway), along with many others.

Originally posted on symnews.org.

Last Friday I had a conversation with a man from the Congo which, I can already say, has changed my life.

Tired, hungry and lonely, after a long day at the COP16 Climate Change negotiations, I made my way to nearby bar to have something to eat before a long night of writing.

Next to me sat another lonely soul having a late night feed. I could tell by his suit and security pass that he was also a Climate Conference Gringo in Cancun.

His name was Jean, and despite being from the Congo referred to himself with a laugh as a Frenchman. We started talking about the day and our impressions of the conference.

“There will be a deal, because there has to be a deal,” he asserted, but shortly after conceded that negotiations weren’t going along as he had hoped. But, he said, the spirit was much better than in Copenhagen last year.

“Plus the sun is nicer,” he laughed as we compared Cancun to Copenhagen.

He was trained as a lawyer, and had attended the last three UN climate change negotiations representing the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 1997 the Congo has been plagued by conflict. Even today violence lingers. As a result of the fighting, and the disease and famine, it is estimated up to five and half million people have been killed. Men are expected to live just to the age of 47, women to the age of 50.

As a result, the DRC is still ravaged by poverty. Its seventy million people endure through poverty with the lowest GDP per capita in the world.

Although you wouldn’t have guessed that based on Jean’s behavior. Our conversation continued as we started buying each other round after round.

He spoke of the impact of climate change in the Congo. He pushed through the language barrier and told me in vivid detail the beauty of the immense Congo rainforests. It’s rainforests are second largest in the world, rich in unique biodiversity and essential to the world’s carbon cycle.

Much like its forests, the Congo as a whole is also rich in resources. Jean’s eyes turned dark when the topic turned to the civil war and continued violence.

“War cannot be separated from resource exploitation,” he asserted, “natural resources – diamonds, water, minerals and metals –give power.”

“They give power through money, and bring death to the innocent.”

He sat silent for a moment, contemplating his words as he looked at his beer. His eyes had grown red around the rims, and his smile had faded. Then he turned to me, and I knew this conversation was no longer just about aesthetics of forests.

“Climate change is not about the earth warming. It is your nations, your markets, your decisions changing my nation, taking our resources, limiting our decisions and hurting my people.” 

What followed has changed the way I see the world.

I heard about how almost three-quarters of the Congo’s sixty-seven million people rely on agriculture and non-timber forest activities. Extreme and changing weather patterns are causing hardship to these people. With average income per annum being only $160, these people already have little capacity to deal with any crisis. How are they supposed to deal with the most powerful crisis the world has ever faced?

I heard how farming systems and freshwater structures are being destroyed by floods. These systems have worked for hundreds of years and were designed around their climate. Now the climate is changing too quickly for these systems to keep up, leaving the people vulnerable to shortages, disease outbreaks and further poverty.

I heard how foreign markets are driving up prices on finite resources in the Congo, which have been mined out of existence elsewhere. This resource demand helps finance the ongoing violence and tension in the Congo.

I heard how Jean’s income goes to support his much poorer siblings and cousins, who have migrated away from their agricultural lifestyle due to inconsistent weather patterns and increasing poverty. They now live as environmental refugees, unemployed in the capital city Kinshasa.

None of this was new to me. I had heard it all before on television, read it in books, studied it in university. I had been involved in thorough and robust discussions on all this – I had even done well on a few assignments on it.

But now I was hearing it from someone who was feeling it. It was now right in my face, the unavoidable truth of climate change.

Acting on climate change had always seemed the ethical thing to do. It also seemed the efficient, economically wise thing to do. It was in my interests. Future me would benefit, and the environment of Australia would remain lovely.

Now I saw it was still all of these things – but it was also the fair thing to do. Fair to Jean and the vulnerable people in the Congo. Reducing my emissions, controlling my consumption and thinking beyond my countries wealthy borders were not just good for the environment, they were essential for human life. If I continued driving my car to university every day, increasing my consumption based on short terms desires and only thinking about Australia’s interests – if everyone continued with business as usual – billions of people, including Jean and his family, would be at risk.

Every decision I now make, I will think of that conversation with Jean. Climate change for me is a long term issue. Climate change for him was a daily fight for survival by his family and friends. We must see climate change not as a looming environmental issue, but a current humanitarian crisis. It is the just thing to do.

Originally posted on symnews.org.