Youth from Europe and Latin America participate in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Lima

A delegation of around 40 young people form Latin America and Europe will be present at the 20th United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as COP20, which will take place in the city of Lima, Peru.

By Paulo Lima

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Through the production and dissemination of articles, pictures, videos and urban interventions, youth will participate in the educommunicative coverage promoted by the International Youth Media Agency, a project led by Viração Educomunicação in collaboration with Fundación TierraVida and within the context of the +YOU Network.
With an international profile and in its fourth edition, the project will count with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Coletivo Climax Brazil, Clic!, Aclimatando Argentina, the Autonomous Province of Trento, Associazione Jangada, the University of Trento and the European Centre Jean Monnet. The youth delegation at the COP20 will also have the objective of advocating in YOUNGO, the official group for young people within the UNFCCC, which usually has a weak representation from African and Latin American countries.

The event in Lima represents itself a challenge of extreme importance to the world: approving the draft for a new Global Climate Agreement – to be put for approval in Paris 2015 – that would redefine the commitments from States to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions and implement adaptation and mitigation policies to face the effects of climate change.
Besides the official delegations, the COP20 will also count with the participation of representatives from social movements and NGOs that will assume the role of influencing in the decision-making processes to guarantee that the treaties meet people’s expectations. The conference will also have side events with specialists panels and scientific research to debate over the most varied subjects related to Climate Change, such as agriculture, mobility and sustainable cities among others.

For the first time in the history of the COPs, civil society is organizing a mega side event called ’People’s Summit against Climate Change’, which will take place in an important park of the Peruvian Capital City, from the 8 to the 11th of December.
Social movements and environmental organizations of Peru and other countries will also promote self-organized activities, conferences and the presentation of a proposal for a way of life that “goes beyond ’green economy’, which based in a capitalist logic, puts prices on nature and makes it a commodity under the disguise of social and environmental responsibility”, says a press release from the Organizing Political Committee of the People’s Summit against Climate Change.
Before the very start of the COP20, all youth will have the chance of meeting and integrating on the COY10, the Conference of the Youth in preparation for the COP20, organized by YOUNGO from 28 to 30th of November. In this event, members of the International Youth Media Agency will meet with other young communicators from around the world to plan together a collaborative and integrated coverage of the COP20.

To learn more and follow the young coverage of the COP20 please go to: www.agenciajovem.org and www.redmasvos.org. Contents will be published in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.