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lexisuxxx88 karma

And one more question -- the UN seems to have put a lot of emphasis on the presence of youth, but once at the negotiations, the youth are pretty universally ignored in the process. Last year in Lima at the close of the negotiations, I watched the speaker from YUNGO, who was also from a small island country, give a moving, heart-wrenching account of her country's fight for its very survival under climate change. And at the same time, I watched almost every single negotiator get up and leave during the middle of her speech. So my question is this: why is there such an emphasis on youth presence during the process when the unspoken message is that we are not wanted, and have nothing to contribute to the actual outcomes of the negotiations? What can the international community do in Paris to include youth as more than just tokens?

lexisuxxx10 karma

Ms. Figueres, thanks for doing this. It seems to me that among the negotiators, civil society presence at the COP is a an unnecessary nuisance. In Lima, civil society observers were kicked out of one of the last ADP sessions -- we just saw the same thing happen in Bonn. I have two questions for you:

1) What are YOUR opinions on the presence and role of civil society observers at the COP? 2) What will the secretariat be doing in Paris to ensure transparency and inclusion of observers in the negotiations?