Preparatory meeting: countries cannot agree; youth: seeing many robots in the conference room; various organizations: disappointed

Reprinted from Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition, reported by Zhong Xinyun, a Taiwanese youth, in Rio, Brazil, on June 14, 2012

On June 14, the Rio+20 preparatory conference had already reached its second day. Over these two days of meetings, through participating in the "Prep Com" and tracking each country's stance on the issues, international youth and many Major groups were extremely disappointed by the progress of discussions on the zero draft, and even felt that the officials discussing matters in the conference were like robots without any vitality, and that progress was so slow there was no momentum for action at all. The youth called on youth representatives from all countries to actively reach out to government officials so that the conference could proceed more efficiently.

The main reason is that countries have no common ground on their attitudes toward "green economy" and "technology transfer." Northern Hemisphere countries are unwilling to make commitments on technology and funding, and this is precisely the precondition that the G77 considers very important; after all, under the name of "green," many resource powers can be obtained. Organizations one after another felt that, to date, they still could not see government representatives' dedication and concern for the environment, or any compromise.

Everyone's original expectation for the conference was that it would put forward strong commitments, and that in the end a brief political declaration would be needed to implement action. But the zero draft, from 19 pages at the beginning, through continuous discussion and revision by all parties, with topics ranging down to the accuracy of every single word, was at one point expanded to more than 400 pages, and finally, under the supervision of the conference co-chairs, was cut down to the current 89 pages. And at the final discussion meeting in New York on June 2, as much as 70% of the draft content still had not reached consensus.

With the two sides holding extreme positions, everyone insisted on their own ideas and refused to make concessions, which was a disappointing situation. But many groups still tried to exert maximum influence. For example, the youth group Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) tried to closely follow every issue, hoping to reach agreement by lobbying key figures, and posted updates on its website (http://adoptanegotiator.org/).

In addition, on June 17, NRDC is about to launch a website (www.cloudofcommitment.org). Because participants currently maintain a relatively pessimistic attitude toward the conference and feel that a legally binding treaty is unlikely to emerge in the end, through the cloud concept, it will combine media and society, classify by map regions, and make the peripheral conditions already decided transparent and easily accessible online, with a simple interface that is easy to share. Although at this stage the conditions and treaties countries have regarding the issues are mostly joined voluntarily, and there is no punishment for failing to meet them, everyone wants to let governments know that everyone is watching, using the power of social media to push organizations to take action.

In addition, as a supplement, the conference currently wants to delete relatively strong wording on the issue of "human rights," so the working group of the Major Group of Children and Youth (MGCY) is also trying to contact leaders in the Southern Hemisphere, especially the G77, hoping to discuss countermeasures and discuss wording that can be included while still achieving the goal.

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This year's Rio+20 Earth Summit being held in Rio, Brazil, is in full swing
Rio+20 is not only a once-in-a-decade conference, but has also led to many international conventions

In order to obtain the latest information and connect with the international community, many Taiwanese scholars, experts, and officials, as well as major environmental groups, have gone to participate
But in terms of Taiwanese youth participation, there are only a scant few, and the four representatives of the Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition are among those few
How fortunate we are, yet we also bear a heavy responsibility
To record from a youth perspective the various things inside the venue, to make contact with senior figures from various countries, and to exchange with major NGOs
We also, from a youth perspective, promote our ideals and ideas, and put them into practice by taking part.

Here, the Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition invites you to follow along with us the reports and information, and the latest developments, of the four youth representatives
Let us all pay attention to Rio+20 in Rio, Brazil!!!

Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition Rio+20 Report Section