ESA at COP28, Week 2: Day 1
Week 2: Day 1, Dec. 8
By Dennis Ojima
The theme for the Dec. 8 was Youth, Children, Education and Skills.
ESA Leader, Dennis Ojima, stands in front of the official COP28 UAE logo.
The Opening session provided a recap and an update of the status of various policy statements and working papers being managed for decision by the UNFCCC. A number of issues were unresolved during the first week and being revisited during the second week of the conference. The current President of COP28 was insistent that progress should be made over the next 5 days.
I attended a panel at the US Pavilion where progress on the Net-Zero Government Initiative was presented through perspectives of numerous participating countries. Current NZGI members include Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The NZGI has set a goal for government controlled emissions to be net-zero by 2050.
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It was a big day for the NSF funded Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH) Project developed by Gillian Bowser (Colorado State University) and Pamela Templer (Boston University and a cast of many other universities) when both were on the ESA Governing Board. The activities were hectic because of the theme for the day: “Youth, Children, Education and Skills.”
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The civil society groups and the non-governmental organizations are instrumental, persistent and proactive at multiple levels of policy advocacy to bring youth and future generation issues to the policy dialogue and deliberations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH) Network is a transdisciplinary, multi-institutional network that equips students with real-world experience of collaborative, evidence-based approaches to global environmental sustainability. Ecologists Gillian Brwser and Pam Templar lead the network that brings students to COP28. YEAH involved ESA in a number of events today, and Gillian and Pam served as very useful guides to navigate COP. Several organized events included:
- Climate Coffee Club and Conversations (C4) event taking place on this day and the rest of the CoP at the Just North Pavilion (co-sponsored by Michigan Tech University and other YEAH groups. This event is focused on engaging students in the COP processes and is supported by Gillian Bowser and her YEAH team attending the CoP28.
- YEAH has also invited ESA to participate in the Monash University panel discussion on how universities and professional science societies can support early career and youth engagement efforts. A number of panels have been organized at the Monash University and held at their Pavilion. I provided a description of the numerous ESA diversity and inclusion efforts, as well early career professional development and internship and fellowship opportunities. Pam Templer provided information on her new NSF interdisciplinary graduate training project at the intersection of ecosystem science and public health issues in urban environments.
- ESA also had a poster exhibited in the Just Nort Pavilion.
- Pam Templer also talked about art and climate.