Planning for Poland

It's summer of 2008 in Guelph, Ontario, which means it's time to start thinking ahead to December, and the next round of climate change negotiations that are supposed to lead the world into a new agreement to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol.

The past few months have been spotted with some high-level important international meetings, including the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-term Commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the AWG on long-term committment under the UN Convention on Climate Change (AWG-LCA) in Bangkok in March. This was followed more recently by the SBI and SBSTA meetings in Bonn, Germany in June, which acts as an interim half-way point between December conferences each year.

The Bangkok and Bonn meetings aspired to pick up the momentum from Bali and develop an action plan to take us from the "Bali Roadmap" agreed upon in December, to the Copenhagen agreement that we are aiming for in December 2009. Unfortunately, it seems that nations got quite bogged down in trivial details, such as the timing of the various streams of meetings, rather than begin working on draft text for the new agreement. This means time is running out for nations to agree to new text for a new agreement to replace the loophole-riddled Kyoto Protocol.

The youth are also picking up the pace again. We had a representatives from Canada and abroad participating at the SBI and SBSTA meetings in Bonn earlier this month. To see what we accomplished, visit the blog that was carried out by PJ and Meredith at www.tigblog.org/group/cydbonn

Now, former CYD delegates from Bali are regrouping to start developing our strategies for CYD Poznan, reforming our policy groups, steering committees, media and outreach teams, and developing recruitment game plans to bring in new young Canadians who would like to give the climate fight a try.

My own excitement is growing. I can't help but catch the contagious enthusiasm and passion from the others on our team as we reconnect long-distance from the far corners of the country and the planet on our weekly conference calls, to plan our next great move. Let's hope this time perhaps the governments of the world will not only hear us a little more clearly, but take our suggestions to heart and take that first critical step forward.