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The Global Humanitarian Forum's Youth Forum News Agency reporting live from COP-15 negotiations! Read it here!

Road to Copenhagen Initiative

In order to include the voice of the young generation in the climate debate, the Road to Copenhagen initiative invited the GHF’s Youth Forum to their third conference, "Sustaining People and the Planet: A Fair Deal in Copenhagen," which took place from 8-9 December in Malmö, Sweden. Road to Copenhagen is an initiative allowing civil society to participate in COP 15 negotiations through an open debate, delivering their recommendations to the policy-makers. It is chaired by three prestigious women: Gro Harlem Brundtland, Margot Wallström and Mary Robinson.

As an integral part of the conference, the Youth Forum was asked to select eleven young people engaged in Youth Forum activities to participate actively in the working groups on climate justice, financing and technology. The eleven young adults from China, Benin, Yemen, Canada, Switzerland, Kenya,

 

Australia, Chile and India, all alumni participants from the Youth Forum 2009, were able to voice their thoughts regarding the climate challenge and discuss their ideas with the three chairs and the various guests.

In a special session hosted in the Malmö Museum by the GHF’s Youth Forum in cooperation with Young Ideas for Europe, the intergenerational dialogue that characterized the whole conference was brought to a new level. Split into nine small working units, the young adults revised the Copenhagen Manifesto, a main outcome of the Youth Forum 2009, in discussion with members of the older generation. After the discussions, in which Mary Robinson and Gro Harlem Brundtland actively took part, the manifesto, which originally stated the expectations of the young generation towards their political leaders at COP 15, was amended and now reflects the expectations of today and tomorrow’s generations.

As a true intergenerational dialogue took place during the two days, the concerns of the young people were included in the final communiqué of the conference, which the three co-chairs delivered to UNFCCC Secretary General Yvo de Boer at the Bella Centre – the venue of the COP 15 negotiations.

Please check out the revised manifesto.

And please also check out the press conference where the three chairs deliver the final communiqué to UNFCCC Secretary General Yvo de Boer.
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