COP 28: Youth leaders make climate headway as Lanka pavilion becomes hub of activity
The first week of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP) ended on Wednesday, and the second week, during which negotiations pick up heat, began on Friday.
This COP, which has its presidency in Dubai, has marked a few pioneering firsts, though riddled with controversy.
Sri Lanka hosted its firstever pavilion at the COP28 venue in Dubai's Expo City, where 30 side events by various climate stakeholders were hosted. Apart from that, the pavilion was also a hub of activity as ministry officials and delegates held bilateral meetings with investors, technology transfer companies, and other experts on various aspects of the climate section.
The first-ever Sri Lankan youth presence was also marked by engagements such as panels, interventions at the negotiations, and even sitting in on negotiations.
Leading the youth delegation was National Youth Services Council Chairman Pasindu Gunaratne. He said the NYSC held talks with counterparts from Singapore to begin capacitybuilding information transfers on climate action and kick-start climate-related youth empowerment.
He said the talks held with youth leaders from other countries were helpful as they allowed them to “avoid starting from scratch” and “build on what other countries have done” instead.
Mr. Gunarante said foreign assistance would be channelled to develop a climate development programme for an NYSC project to be launched next year. Under this project, two youths from each divisional secretariat would be trained as climate leaders.
The development programme will initially focus on capacity-building for climate action and solutions based on current best practices in other countries for climate-related issues.
“We also hope to mobilise the youth delegation that came to COP28 and received the exposure and opportunity to engage with other youth climate leaders to assist us with designing the programme, which we are hoping to implement with our development partners already working on this area in Sri Lanka. This way, we get to ensure that our programme is inclusive and also maintains the standard of advocacy that is needed for climate action internationally.”
The NYSC's Research and Engagement Chief, Bodh Maathura, also met with the first Assistant SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations for Youth Affairs, Dr. Felipe Paullier, who was recently appointed to his post.
Youth delegate Shamla Saleem, the co-contact point of the Nationally Determined Contributions Working Group for YOUNGO, the official youth and children constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, made interventions in the Global Stock Take and Mitigation negotiations.
Environmentalists have called out this year’s COP presidency over its links to the fossil fuel industry. An analysis by the 'Kick Big Polluters Out' coalition found that at least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists had been granted accreditation to the climate summit, outnumbered only by the 3,081 people brought by Brazil, which is expected to host COP30, and the UAE, which, as COP28 host, had 4,409 delegates.