Your Voice at the UN -- April 30, 2007
Day 1 was long and wonderful. Far from being token representatives, our group of US residents began by drafting our opening statement and reading it on the floor. I will post our statement in a comment here if you’d like to read it.
The reason we are able to contribute to the policy formation and be recognized on the floor is that we, as members of the Youth and Children Caucus, have status as a “Major Group” along with Women, NGO’s, Trade and Labor Unions, Indigenous Peoples and others important stakeholders in Sustainable Development. After all, the youth of today are the generation that will be affected next by energy, climate and development issues next. Being young does not often offer up additional opportunities, but this qualifies as one, big such opportunity. There are so many young folks here, all with extremely diverse and learned backgrounds. Though we are young, we have the reputation of “knowing our stuff” and being valuable contributors to the policy.
I met today with the U.S. office to the UN today as well. The U.S. seems to be signing onto concepts and policies that the rest of the UN has developed and agreed to for some time now. It was a rather beaurocratic meeting (meaning, I don’t think there was much of substance to come out of it), but I did meet a gentleman from the USDA there who is working on rural energy issues in the United States. MBD recently reinvigorated our rural programming and I am excited about the partnership possibilities with the Regional USDA folks, pairing wind mills with ranchers to “milk” the skies!
Todays definition (will be relevant for tomorrow!)
Industrial Development: I do not like any of the definitions that come up on a web search. This term refers to all things business and industry, labor, investment, and economic policy. Microfinance, for example, fits into the category of Industrial Development. So do infrastructure projects that create the capacity for growth and development. And, so would certifications for specific types of businesses and products such as “organic,” “free-trade,” “Colorado Proud” or MBD’s new certification for its holistically responsible business… to be announced soon! I digress, but this certification will address social, economic and environmental attributes of client businesses and asks them to commit to progress, allows access to an incentive program, and is likely to be called MBD CARES – or, Creating a Renewable Economy. Interested in this project or getting certified?
Sustainability Stat of the Day: Did you know that 71% of the earth’s surface area is water, but 97% of this water is too salty to drink? The remaining 3% of fresh water is largely groundwater or ice. Demand for fresh water is in fact met by 0.3% of total global water reserves. (World Atlas of Sustainable Development, Sacquet)
That’s all for now. I’m exhausted and I expect the pace to pick up tomorrow. I spent a full 17 hours out working and commuting today.
With love from New York,
Caitlin
3 comments:
It seems I cannot upload the statement here. Please email me at ch@microbusiness.org if you would like to receive a copy of the statement or any of the other position papers or policy recommendations created by the group. For example, you could ask to see:
-World Youth Position on Industrial Development
-Position on Energy
-Position on Air Pollution
-Position on Climate Change
-Comprehensive Policy Recommendations for all 4 areas
Caitlin,
Can you please tell us how you are actually participating? Is this a warm fuzzy two-week or is it actually a time for citizens to work on policy, process, and programs?
Hello,
I appear to have missed this posting and just read it now upon reviewing my entries. Sorry for the delay!
There are three main categories of people attending the conference. 1) government representatives, 2) the media, and 3) delegates of "Major Groups."
Delegates with Major Groups (me) have the followinig roles:
1-Organized Statement Making: Citizen delegates can participate in any of the Major Groups Caucuses (Women, Indigenous Peoples, Youth and Children, NGO's, Farmers, Business and Industry, etc.). Each of these Caucuses has a chair on the floor of the Assembly and the opportunity to deliver statements representing their group to the world and read them on the floor of the General Assembly. There are approximately 6-8 of these formal statement deliveries, if I'm correct. Sometimes a Major Group contains no more than a handful of individuals.
2. Organized lobbying: These groups can create policy priorities as a group and distribute them and read them during negotiations and throughout the conference. For example, I was able to draft some language around access to affordable capital and fostering local ownership that was read on the floor by the Youth and Children Major Group, and as a group we lobbied to have some of these concepts (and perhaps language, we'll see!) supported by several government delegates. I'll report on the outcome of that later!
3. Individual Lobbying: delegates have free access to government delegates and can engage in conversation, provide information, request meetings, etc.
4. Rabble Rousing. Barring all else, we are also here to bring in a new perspective, an on the ground perspective, and to provide information to our media and communities. Putting a spotline on activities of one's government at the UN is often as good leverage as any. Groups can also organize and petition to hold an "action"-- some kind of demonstration or creative expression that raises awareness or gives information.
Governments essentially make statements the same way Major Groups do. What differentiates them is that they can participate in negotiating the language in the text, and they can vote.
In short, I have had the opportunity to craft language and promote concepts as prioirities. And I have been heard... by others like me, the media, and the General Assembly of countries. To what extent my or any of our citizen's work will be visible in the final document is yet to be seen. However, we are definately an active part of the process... which I think is extremely important in and of itself.
That said, this is also an incredible learning opportunity. For me for sure, and I hope for the folks I've had the opportunity to talk with from around the world with other experiences and perspectives than mine. I think it is so important to have "on the ground" implementers contributing to these conversations as the self-prodclaimed "wonks" crank out the verbage!
Thanks for your question. Does that clarify? Got a good idea for an action to raise awareness about sustainable development?
Caitlin
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