Durban - Youths from four South African schools will get the opportunity of a lifetime when they participate in the Youth Climate Negotiation session at the Climate Change Response Expo.
The expo forms part of the events around COP17, which kicks off next week.
The Youth Climate Negotiation session on 28 November, hosted by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), will include selected delegates representing various sectors to draft a South African Durban Youth Protocol.
Desir,e Kosciulek, Youth Development Officer at SAIIA, said the UNFCCC has confirmed SAIIA's youth side event. On 29 November, the youth will go on to present the South African Durban Youth Protocol at the ICC.
"As the only South African youth programme (especially involving high school learners, teachers, and university students) officially part of the proceedings inside the ICC, we believe this is a particularly important opportunity for the voice of young South Africans to be heard," said Kosciulek.
This programme is part of SAIIA's Environmental Sustainability Project and has been sponsored by the US State Department and Sasol.
BuaNews chatted to four of the youths who will be at COP17 and are passionate about saving the environment. They are backing up their powerful words with some serious action.
Mbali Mazibuko, who attends the National School of the Arts in Gauteng, feels it is her responsibility to educate others at home and school about climate change. At the Youth Protocol, she will assume the role of an African Environmental Activist.
"My topic is that of climate change and fresh water. We need to join in our capacity as members of the youth and combat climate change which affects fresh water resources. As we negotiate, I will try everything in my power to ensure that fresh water scarcity is dealt with," said Mbali.
The youngster said it was a great honour to be able take part in one of the most significant conferences. "We have been tasked with a great responsibility, as the youth of South Africa at the Youth Climate negotiations at COP 17," said Mbali.
Mbali said young citizens needed to be reached through a media with which they are comfortable.
"Television advertisements and radio seem to be the trendy aspects of their lives but social networks would be the most successful. More initiatives need to be made available and an interest in 'go green' projects should be created," said Mbali.
Art is one way in which Mbali will communicate her messages. "Generation Earth is a 'go green' organisation in many schools and Mark Mohan, who is the president of the Generation Earth at the National School of the Arts, is working on ways to further create interest.
"Our school specialises in art and we could have plays on the environmental impact that climate change has. A series of art works showing what Mother Earth will look like a few years from now could be successfully done," she said.
She also plans on organising more debates on environmental sustainability.
KwaZulu-Natal learner Gabriel Adderley attends Wykeham Collegiate and firmly believes government and policy makers need to be challenged on climate change issues, and "changing light bulbs and short showers is not enough".
"It's exciting to be part of something that's big and involves such an international range of people. Climate issues are featuring more and more in the media and developing an eco-conscience is becoming necessary for corporate bodies and governments to promote their public image," said Gabriel.
She is encouraged by the number of youth-inspired action plans such as climate camps and moving-planet bicycle rallies.
Gabriel will be traveling to Europe in 2012 to experience some of the "progressive environmental attitudes that some countries have adopted".
"The public transport, alternative fuels and energy, bio-intensive farming methods, ecological housing developments are all in very dense urban environments. South Africa has such great physical space to develop these ideas. I think we have such a creative potential as a country," she said.
Nabeel Allie-Ebarhim from Rondebosch Boys' High School in the Western Cape will be busy formulating and presenting the South African Durban Youth Protocol.
"My contribution to the protocol will be to represent the views and perspectives of the fossil fuel industry because the purpose of this all, in my belief, is to find a win-win situation and the fossil fuel sector forms part of that equation," Nabeel said.
He believes a change in attitude will contribute to the climate change fight.
"[The youth] need to have a change in attitude. In South Africa we have a history of youth taking a stand for what is right, and I believe this mentality will benefit us in the battle against climate change," he said.
Nabeel will continue to raise awareness in his community, hoping to eradicate an apathetic mindset.
"It's not just the president or the minister of environmental affairs' problem. This earth belongs to all of us, and therefore we all need to play our part in maintaining it."
African Leadership Academy student, Matjie Lillian Maboya, is looking forward to interacting with people who lead major climate change action programs.
"It means an opportunity to learn from and share climate change knowledge with people from around the world. I will be raising the voices of subsistence farmers. I will highlight the challenges they face due to climate change and ways in which they would like our leaders to support them through policy changing or relevant intervention strategies," she explained.
Inspired by the likes of the late environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wangari Maathai, Matjie believes that one of the most effective ways to address climate issues is by massive grassroots action.
"Young people can work on community projects that include mandating rainwater harvesting in townships, urban and rural areas... young people need to take the lead to educate people in their communities about these issues," she said.
Matjie said young South Africans can explore the area of research - as there is still a lot of work to be done in gathering data about how climate change is affecting even the smallest of townships in the country.
"Also with the research, local-based solutions need to be devised and implemented. If our youth can lead such initiatives, then this issue will gain more momentum as all citizens would be aware of immediate and long-term impacts. We should not always wait for global research organisations to tell us about what is happening in our own micro-environments," she said.
Matjie is involved in research and the implementation of strategies of how various local-based sustainable projects can be scaled up in townships and rural South Africa and other parts of the continent.
