After a four-hour ETS, 40-minutes KTM, and a half-and-hour UBER ride, I finally reached University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) - the campsite of the Malaysia Youth Delegation (MYD) retreat on Saturday morning (15/4/2017).
I missed the ice-breaking session so I started the day with the informative session. The Ad Hoc Working Group on Talent Acquisition and Selection (ATAS) started by giving us a glimpse of what MYD is as a big picture (click here to find out more). Then, ATAS brought in a speaker from another branch of Power Shift Malaysia - Kem Solusi to give us a brief on Climate Change 101 (link from Climate Reality Project). It was a very interactive session as we were engaging with the content through online surveys. We also learned about the development of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and all the hard facts.
After a quick lunch on campus, we continued our day with a consensus-building team bonding session called "Fixing the toilet“ (not sure if this is the name). So the participants were separated into groups, and within that group, we were further separated into Annex I, Non-Annex, and the USA. It is pretty much like Model UN where you represent your bloc, but for this session, to work to solve the single broken toilet you all have. We were asked to consider solutions from a few perspective: mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer, finance, and capacity building. I would say that our team members were very diplomatic and cooperative when it comes to taking their stance.
Yoke Ling from Third World Network was brought in to let us understand more about the struggles between developed and developing countries. I got to know the core values of UNFCCC, which is equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities - Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), the importance of engaging globally is because most of the decisions are made outside of the country (multilateral conferences etc.), and that many decisions are made to take responsibilities of historical wrongs (not charity). She mentioned that the assumption of the UN is cooperation and good faith, so most agreements are used to support instead of punishing (which may sometimes appear lack in achieving). The power of the UN lies in the accountability of it, the more countries wanted closed door sessions, the more effective the pressure is. Shaming is often used to put the fear of civil societies on the government so that public pressure could be used to challenge vested interest companies. It was a very different experience learning about the UN through MUN versus through an NGO's perspective.
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C for Climate Change!
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The session after dinner was a documentary screening. We watched Before the Flood, a documentary by National Geographic and many parts of it were shocking and painful to watch, especially the part where an Indian representative being interview explained how impossible it is for them to consider green energy when not all of their citizen have access to electricity. You can see more at their official website here.
We head over to Broga Hill the next morning and picked up trash along the trails. I had lots of fun with these amazing people who helped me throughout the trail (it was super slippery because it rained the night before, and my shoe kinda died).
After we finished cleaning ourselves, we continued our day with a sharing session by members of Power Shift Malaysia to know more about their work in Malaysia. There are more sessions after this but I had to go because I need to catch my bus.
My experience at the MYD Retreat is an amazing one. I have learned so much about the climate change movement in Malaysia and how we as youth could actually make a difference. Be part of the solution!
