20-25 September 2009

2009 is a key year for Climate Change because the successor to the Kyoto Protocol should be agreed at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP 15), which takes place in Copenhagen from 7-18 December.  The majority of world governments will be represented there and their delegates will be responsible for finalising the details of the agreement that will provide the framework for international action on Climate Change from 2012 onwards.

We aim to engage several of our Climate Advocates in the process leading up to COP 15 by organising an International Climate Camp for them, which will take place in Slovenia from 20-25 September 2009.

Following an 'island of Ireland' search in May 2009, 15 talented and passionate advocates were selected by an independent panel including representatives of the British Council’s Challenge Europe partners; Cultivate, Comhar, Business in the Community Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Sustainable Development Commission. In June 2009, a dynamic launch event, set among the rolling Mourne mountains in Northern Ireland, then kick started the second year of Challenge Europe across the island of Ireland. Moving through 4 areas, ‘awareness’, ‘agency’, ‘association’ and ‘action’, the 15 successful applicants began to explore the context of climate change, to think about the challenge, to brain storm ideas and agree action points. Friendships were formed and good craic was had by all!

The pressure was then on, however, as advocates had only 6 weeks to form groups and research ideas before presenting their project pitches to our 'Dragon's Den' panel in the Science Gallery, Dublin on 28 July. Within this state of the art setting, experts from organisations including BT, the Change programme and NI Environment Link listened attentively to the advocates' ambitious proposals and then asked questions, provided feedback, made recommendations and gave the go-ahead to 3 project ideas overall! Final challenges include promoting and facilitating the start-up of carbon friendly enterprises, using food to empower community action to cut carbon (based on the Eden project's Big Lunch model) and promoting urban sustainability through cycling, street lighting and high occupancy vehicle policies and initiatives. Following their nail biting audience with the 'Dragons', the rest of the day was then spent planning project activities in detail and between now and their next meeting in October, advocates from NI and Ireland will forge ahead with further research, planning and initial implementation of challenges.
 

Climate Advocates from Turkey gathered for the first time in Ankara on the 11th of July. The first meeting served for the Advocates to get to know one another and to generate project ideas that would contribute to the climate change debate.

The Advocates will work together in the coming months on projects to raise awareness which they will select from possible ideas that range from establishing a web site, recycling waste into bio-energy in rural Turkey, calculating Carbon footprints to the effective use of solar energy in heating and lighting.

Turkish Climate Advocates joined Challenge Europe in 2009 and bring with them a unique perspective on the climate change related issues in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The group will meet once again in September.

The Youth Science Conference, “Call for Action” took place in Smolenice between June 29 and July 2. It was organised by the Slovak Association of Young Scientists and the British Council, which had been invited to become a partner because of our involvement in Challenge Europe. The aim of this International Conference was to encourage young people to involve themselves in a worldwide community of scientists, politicians, technicians, technologists and other specialists to help reduce the impact of climate change.

The participants and all invited guests including HE Michael Roberts, the UK´s Ambassador to Slovakia, met at Congress Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences at the Smolenice Castle.

The Conference was attended by 24 Climate Advocates of the Challenge Europe project from the Czech Republic, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland and Slovakia and by the same number of young scientists - winners of various science contests in China, Denmark, Mexico and Slovakia.

The programme included an opportunity to debate the issues with key speakers from Slovakia and the UK - David Viner (the British Council’s Programme Leader for Climate Change), Slovak climatologist Milan Lapin (patron of Challenge Europe in Slovakia) and Adam Bumpus (recently completing his Doctoral work at the University of Oxford).

Part of the programme was a visit to nearby companies Chemolak Smolenice and car factory Peugeot Citroen to see how green policies are applied in some plants in Slovakia. Each day, lively discussions that went on until the early hours were also inspired by watching films such as Recipes for Disaster made by Finnish Climate Advocate John Webster.

Throughout the conference a group of volunteers worked on a Resolution for the December UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen which was discussed and completed in the final plenary session. The Resolution demonstrates that young people do care about the environment and the future of our planet and expect action from decision makers, hence the title of the conference “Call for Action”.The conference was a truly successful networking experience and many contacts will survive far beyond this event.