In Cancun - Day 12 - Solitarity and stuck young peoples

Well folks,

It's day 5 of the 16th Conference Of Parties (COP16) here at the United Nations and I'm learning loads but at the same time revisiting ideas I'd had before I arrived.

Last year in Copenhagen I was very much alone. I went to the Conference of Youth (COY) knowing only Aiden, who was too busy to give me more than a few moments of his time. I met some people in those two days but once COY was over I was thrown into a very unfamiliar world. I couldn't go into the UN building, which was where most youth were, so I went to Klimaforum and attending lectures and discussions.

I didn't have a delegation to pal around with, I didn't have any work to get involved with.
Even the girl I was staying with "gave" me her apartment for the week and went to stay with her boyfriend.
I was alone.

This year, apart from COY - which I was heavily involved in the running. In fact, I was pretty much "the COY Go-To guy," -  it's happening much the same.

Much of the work that's being done by the youth is hidden to me. It's partitioned up by delegations and working groups and regions and everyone seems to have a project to work on. COY is usually the venue where people with nothing to do find something to do. Unfortunately, I was so busy making COY run right that I didn't have a chance to get involved in the many movements taking shape.

Thus, now at COP16 I am going to the side events alone and I have no idea where to even look for the other youth and how to get involved in their movement. This is especially compounded by the fact that I missed the first 3 days sick and in bed.

That being said, I'm convinced that there is a good reason for this.

Last year my isolation allowed me the opportunity to look at COY and only COY and as a result I've managed to have a big impact on improving how COY is run.

This year, I believe I've found my new niche: YOUNGO processes.
YOUNGO (Youth Non-Governmental Organization) is the gathering point for all youth climate movement actions. They represent youth to the United Nations.

YOUNGO has a few very outstanding characteristics from what I've gathered while watching the morning spokescouncil meetings.
- Tremendous enthusiasm    

- High levels of inclusivity   
- A large talent pool to draw from
BUT also
- very inefficient decision making processes  
- A lack of structure when it comes to integrating new youth

I am one of these new-to-the-movement youth and I can tell you after having watched only a few of their morning meetings that if I didn't believe strongly in the potential of YOUNGO, I would have already left and wouldn't come back.
Some of it is them, but most of it can be addressed with small changes in structure. 
 

So, this is what I plan to do with the rest of my time here in Cancun.
Form a review group to see if we can make some suggestions about how to add a little more structure and efficiency to YOUNGO.
YOUNGO hasn't been around long and there's still lots of room for improvement.

We'll see how I do. This is a much more complex issue and I'm certain to face a lot more resistance.
But here goes... :-)