Youth in Cancun

29.11.2010

Youth in Cancun

I arrived in Mexico late Saturday evening to participate in the climate negotiations. Not so long ago I did not think that this would happen. Last year, after participating in the negotiations in Copenhagen, I was really depressed about the result of the negotiations, like so many others. I had lost my belief in UNFCCCs power to act and the private sectors readiness and willingness to provide innovative solutions to the climate change.

But one could say that I lost my religion, but found my faith. I found new faith in the youth! In Copenhagen you could see them everywhere (I say them, because in Copenhagen I didn’t participate as a youth delegate, but solely represented my job at the Nordic Council of Ministers). The youth was very engaged and knowledgeable and a positive force in the middle of the nightmare that Copenhagen became. The global youth’s willingness to take responsibility and act is something totally different than you would think that the general atmosphere of the public is when you follow the negotiators, who are not ready to compromise when it comes to so called national interests. But the negotiators fail to see the big picture and realize that the global interest is in everyone’s national interest! Luckily the youth will be in Cancun to remind them of this fact, again!