Australian Youth Climate Coalition

As climate negotiations move forward positively but cautiously, members of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition have been working with young people from around the world to create a stir at the UN Climate talks in Cancun, Mexico. Through colourful actions and direct lobbying; youth have been working together to raise the ambition of negotiators and remind the world of the moral imperative to act.

'In Cancun we can't lose sight of the fact that there is a huge gap between the emissions reductions currently on the table and what the science tells us we need to do to avoid catastrophic climate change,' said AYCC National Director Ellen Sandell.

'It's positive to see many countries committing to reduce their emissions, for example, China committing to binding targets is a game-changer. Australia now needs to catch up by setting a carbon price high enough to reduce emissions by much more than the 5% that's currently on the table. Furthermore, this reduction needs to be achieved through transforming our economy, rather than loopholes.'

Young people in the conference centre in Cancun have made their voices heard through colourful actions including 'Youth Cultural Markets' where cultural and social landmarks were auctioned off by 'governments' lacking in ambition, and attention-grabbing actions around the themes of forestry and oil.

Young people also played a key role in the first success to come out of the talks: Article 6, which deals with climate change education. Over 100 youth delegates at the UN climate negotiations proposed a series of amendments to Article 6 to ensure greater investment by all countries in education, gender equity and transparency. All of their amendments were approved and the article was passed in record time.

These successes have been in spite of restrictions placed on civil society compared to previous UN climate negotiations. Young people have repeatedly had their activities cancelled and must face a 2 to 3 day approval process to undertake activities in the conference centre. This is on top of prohibitive travel times and a large amount of security.

Despite this, young delegates have been determined to represent the 3 billion young people around the world who will be most severely affected by climate change.

'For me this is about survival,' said Krishneil Narayan, a 24 year old delegate from Fiji. 'The ambition our leaders show will determine whether or not my country disappears and my people are displaced.'

Minister Combet arrived in Cancun on Saturday and the AYCC will continue to work directly with him, our ambassador Louise Hand and other non-government organisations to lift ambition and encourage Australia to take the lead in addressing climate change here in Cancun.