Our first “action”
On the 2nd December, we participated in our first “action”. An action is basically a simple demonstration by the International Youth Delegates (IYD) which is done to attract media attention daily to put an important message across to the international government delegates. Despite the freezing cold at 8+am in the morning, an enthusiastic group of us from the IYD turned up to participate. The job was simple, carry a flag and form a line down the corridor leading to the entrance of the conference. The flag relayed different messages on the back and we would flip it one by one and announce our message.
It was a refreshing experience, especially when you would have very little chance to execute an organized activity like this in Singapore. It was not a protest but a simple form of communication to put our vision as international youth delegates across. The message being that we, as youths from different countries and organizations are able to have a shared vision, the same way the other delegates should too. We wanted them to join our vision.
We were told the action was a little controversial, by the UNFCCC secretariat, as we crossed certain boundaries which were predetermined. Nonetheless, we got out point across to all the delegates who arrived that morning. From a later update from the action workgroup, I found out that someone else from the UNFCCC secretariat encouraged the IYD to do something more militant. That would be a large form of motivation to the IYD, so watch this space for more exciting actions at COP14!
