World Leadership Conference 2011 - Update Day 02

Day 02.

The second day was dedicated towards negotiation of the proposed amendments on the first day. Task forces were established under the three themes to re-structure the content of the policy paper and the delegates were working in small groups to make the process more efficient. Several amendments were made and approved by the house and some of the amendments were not negotiated and are still open for further discussion.

I was able to present the Action Based Change Declaration of South Asian Youth Conference. The presentation was focused on Importance of Peace under the following sections of peace within us, peace with others and peace with the environment. I believe that peace is the solution for most of the burning problems in our society including Sustainable development challenges and Climate Change. Ms. Clara M. Nobbel, the associate programme officer of United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) was also present and gave a presentation that highlighted the importance of Sustainable Governance, emphasizing mainly on the governing aspect.

Day-03

The first day of the Knowledge Track was dedicated for “Green Economy for Poverty Eradication” with the Keynote Address presented by Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, Regional Coordinator of UNEP Resource Efficiency Programme. He emphasized how Green Economy will eradicate poverty, and added that “investing just 2% of global GDP in key sectors can kick start a transition from Brown Economy to Green Economy”. The Opening Sharing by Mr. Nicolo Wojewoda, the Director of Road to Rio+20, Peace Child International, focused on how youths can engage with Rio+20 Campaign and how youths can make an impact on their community and government on sustainable development initiatives. An interesting panel discussion was carried by Dr. Chris Margules, Senior Scientist, Conservation International; Dr. Jung Tae-Yong, Deputy Executive Director, Global Growth Initiatives; Mr. Maran Gopalakrishnan, Communication Manaer, VESTAS; and Mr. Stevan Tan, Executive Secretary, Young NTUC. The panel addressed on the emerging challenges, benefits and implementation of Green Economy followed by several workshops on thematic sessions. As the previous day evening time was dedicated for policy delegates for amendments and discussion followed by networking sessions.

The World Leadership Conference 2011 is an Asia Pacific youth regional meeting for the Earth summit/Rio+20 due to be held in July 2012 on which the whole global community is focused on at the moment. Yet major climate change negotiations are still pending. The WLC have brought together over 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific to do a consultation towards the UN Rio 2012 summit. This will be a part of a buildup consultation for the region, targeting young people. It is also being endorsed by UNEP with its regional director attending the event amongst many other UN and regional Governmental officials. More details online at http://www.worldleadershipconference.org

The position paper will be brought to UNEP RIM process as the Asia Pacific position paper under Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY). The WLC identified three key themes namely, Green Economy to Eradicate Poverty, Energy for a Low Carbon Future, and Institutional Framework on Sustainable Development, which co-relates with the UNCSD Rio+20’s major two themes.

Regards

Sri Lankan Delegation (Green Lanka Youth Platform)

South Asian Youth Conference Delegation

World Leadership Conference 2011

World Leadership Conference 2011

Day-01

The World Leadership Conference 2011 is an Asia Pacific youth regional meeting for the Earth summit/Rio+20 due to be held in July 2012 on which the whole global community is focused on at the moment. Yet major climate change negotiations are still pending. The WLC will be bringing together over 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific to do a consultation towards the UN Rio 2012 summit. This will be a part of a buildup consultation for the region, targeting young people. It is also being endorsed by UNEP with its regional director attending the event amongst many other UN and regional Governmental officials. More details online at http://www.worldleadershipconference.org

The position paper will brought to UNEP RIM process as the Asia Pacific position paper under Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY). The WLC identified three key themes namely, Green Economy to Eradicate Poverty, Energy for a Low Carbon Future, and Institutional Framework on Sustainable Development, which co-relates with the UNCSD Rio+20’s major two themes.

Today, delegates from approximately 10 nations sat for round table negotiations. The combined paper was made by the WLC organizers using the Consultation Papers submitted by each country and it was circulated among delegates prior to the 1^st reading. The opening session of the policy track begun with an energetic activity called “World Café”. All the delegates were given the opportunity to get to know each other and this activity emphasized on the importance of this summit.

The 1^st reading of the combined paper involved 'amendments' from each delegation from each country was added to the text. All amendments were allowed and no decision to finalize the amendments took place in this 1st reading. The discussion of the policy paper amendments will take place on the second day, which will involve discussion among the concerned parties. Apart from proposing amendments, delegates gave brief reasons for the amendments which was added as a 'comment' to text. Delegates can elaborate further on the reasons in 2^nd reading. The first day was ended with a colorful cultural show.

Sri Lankan Delegation.

Green Lanka Youth Platform

Sri Lanka manufactures first carbon-free bra

Marks & Spencer has made ‘going green’ even easier as it has launched the high street’s first ever carbon neutral bra, manufactured at the M&S eco-model factory in Thurulie, Sri Lanka.

Part of the new Autograph Leaves lingerie collection, the retail chain has calculated the footprint of the entire range, which includes four styles of bra, three knickers and a set of suspenders.

‘As a result of this project we know raw material production, such as lace manufacture, is a major contributing factor to the bra’s footprint, so we’re now working with our suppliers to find better alternatives for the future,” Paschal Little, Head of Lingerie Technology at M&S said.

The factory’s local community is also benefiting from this initiative. M&S has purchased offsets through a carbon credit project run by Conservation Carbon Company.

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http://print.dailymirror.lk/business/127-local/41329.html

http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/04/14/sri-lanka-mas-thurulie-made-word%E2%80%99s-first-carbon-neutral-bra-sale

Why link Poverty and Environment?

http://www.povertyandconservation.info/docs/20080524-UNDP-UNEP_Poverty_Environment_Initiative.pdf

Poverty and environment are inter-linked through four

main dimensions: livelihoods, resilience to

environmental risks, health and economic development.

Livelihoods: Ecosystems -- a dynamic complex of plant,

animal and micro-organism communities and their

nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit --

provide goods and services (e.g. food, clean water, energy

and shelter) on which poor people rely disproportionately

for their well-being and basic needs. They also depend on

the environment to earn incomes in sectors such as

agriculture, fishing, forestry and tourism, both in formal

and informal markets.

Resilience to environmental risks: Poor people are more

vulnerable to natural disasters (e.g. flooding, drought), the

effects of climate change, and environmental shocks that

threaten among others their livelihoods and undermine

food security. Improving environmental management of

for example watersheds and mangrove forests increase the

resilience of poor people and their livelihoods to

environmental risks.

Health: Environmental conditions account for a

significant portion of health risks to poor people. On the

other hand, good health conditions are beneficial in terms

of resilience, livelihoods, productivity and economic

development.

Economic development: The environment contributes

directly and indirectly to the economic development and

level of employment, in particular in developing

countries, through sectors such as agriculture, energy,

forestry, fisheries, and tourism.

Poverty environment linkages are dynamic and context

specific reflecting both geographic location, scale and the

economic, social, and cultural characteristics of

individuals, households, and social groups. By addressing

the environmental issues it is possible for developing

countries to ensure a sustainable path to poverty reduction

and human development. .

Examples of poverty-environment issues include soil

degradation that affects nearly 2 billion hectares,

damaging the livelihoods of up to 1 billion people living

on drylands. Around 70% of commercial fisheries are

either fully or overexploited, and 1.7 billion people – a

third of the developing world’s population – live in

countries facing water stress.

There is an uneven geography of consumption,

environmental damage and human impact. Rich countries

generate most of the world’s environmental pollution and

deplete many of its natural resources. Key examples

include depletion of the world’s fisheries and emissions of

greenhous e gases that cause climate change, both of

which are tied to unsustainable consumption patterns by

rich people and countries. In rich countries per capita

carbon dioxide emissions are 12.4 tonnes while in middleincome countries they are 3.2 tonnes and in low-income

countries, 1.0 tonne. Poor people are most vulnerable to

environmental shocks and stresses such as the anticipated

impacts of global climate change.

How to Go Green Right Now© by Anoka Abeyrathne©

How to Go Green Right Now©

by Anoka Abeyrathne©

1. Skip bottled water! - Yep take your own bottle of water. It can save the piling up of over one million tons of plastic!

2. Buy quality electronic and household items - this way you use them for longer and don't dispose easily unlike cheap stuff that break real easy.

3. Recycle - seen the awesome trash bins in British Council? try it out at home, compost your bio-degradables, make gift wrap out of waste paper (contact

me for tips! ) and send only plastic in your trash.

4. Sell and earn - sell your old clothes to thrift stores and earn! also sell newspapers, glass bottles and metal to places who wiegh and Pay you! :D

5. Consume more native food - this helps to bring up the economy and put down exports which bring in loads of non-degradables to Sri Lanka.

6. Walk - quit taking that elevator, you are already getting flabby! try out some stretches and get your own personalized workout (yep, contact me again for

gym related stuff)

7. Light up - use LED bulbs or CFLs. The best ones is LEDs which consume way less than CFLs and safer that CFLs since CFLs contain Mercury!

8. Air dry - your clothes and your hair. Like kettles, hair dryers consume a lot of energy since they heat up in an instant.

9. Participate - in policy dialogues, forums, online. Voice out, use media effectively. Quit being apathetic and letting others decide (and ruin)

your future!

10. Go Organic - food, clothing, cleaning products, body products, everything can be bought or made. These lack killer chemicals that

cause cancer and other insane diseases. Kill two birds with one stone much? :)

to be continued later :)

Keep on participating in the GLYP movement. Do you part to make a change!