Dear Mates, I want to share with you all about the event COP IN MY CITY (CIMC) CHITWAN conducted recently on 8th September at Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan Nepal.

Being a CIMC leader my responsibility was to coordinate the program in my country like previous year. Before sharing about the flow of event let me tell what actually is CIMC? CIMC is an initiative of CLiMates, an international think and do tank for climate change which aims at breezing gap between youths and climate change negotiations. CIMC has 3 essential phases- Before Conference of Parties (COP) we have training or simulation phase, during COP mobilization phase and after COP debriefing phase. Out of these phase, we had our first phase i.e. Simulation phase.

Organization of the event

Few weeks prior to the event, I proposed Rotaract Club of Naryangarh to sponsor the event and debriefed the objectives. Club Board decided to sponsor and organize CIMC simulation phase, venue and time was fixed taking consideration of potent participants. Information was flowed via online social media especially via Facebook inviting 30 interested participants for the event. I had an exam on the same date and was quite challenging to handle academics and event at the same time. No power supply due to load shedding and use of alternative electrical source was somehow a troublesome procedure. Moreover the political clash in the campus added uncertainty to the event. Despite all the circumstances, the event went so well with lots of positive feedback from the participants.

Flow of the event

The event consist of 2 phases in the first phase I described briefly the overview of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), history of COP, major achievements till now and expectation from the upcoming COP 21. Then after, participants were grouped into Annex I, II countries, Economies in Transition (EIT), Least Developed Countries (LDC), Non- Annex I countries and Intergovernmental and non- governmental organizations (IGO/ NGO). Our own cheerful ambassador Rahul brother was assigned as the CHAIR, one of the active members Prashant Bhandari brother as UN General Secretary and participant Prarthana Neupane as UNFCCC Secretary.

In Phase II Rahul brother as a CHAIR addressed the delegates representing different countries, clarified the common objective of the COP and allocated 15 minutes time for group discussion. Then after, each group presented their listed problems and their expectation from other group. UNFCCC Secretary addressed the problems and their severity highlighting the need for specific commitments to curb emissions and take concrete climate action. After hearing the problems, vulnerability and expectations from each group time was given to prepare the commitments from each group. After 15 minutes of discussion each group enlisted a set of commitments and five minutes was given to each group for presenting their action plans and commitments.  Annex I, II countries agreed to provide a huge amount for green climate fund and reducing their emissions by 25% by 2025. Economies in transition agreed to shift towards green economy. IGO/NGOs committed to monitor and suggest the regulation of green climate fund and transparency. LDC agreed to increase their green carbon if they are facilitated with Carbon Trading mechanism and proper utilization of the Fund. Non- Annex I countries committed to sustainable development, reducing their emission by 12% and investing in solar and renewable energy.

Lastly, UN General Secretary presented the global agreement for limiting the global rise of temperature by 2 degree Celsius compared to pre- industrial level.

Finally, our guest Mt. Deepak Sharma, youth activist from neighboring district Nawalparasi who observed the entire flow of sessions expressed his experience and thanked everyone for such an amazing simulation and active participation.

Group picture was taken and I was more than happy to hear feedback from the participants and their overwhelming excitement.

Acknowledgements:

My sincere thanks to Rotaract Club of Naryangarh and Rotaractors Ashish Niraual, Santosh Devkota, Deepa, Ranjita, Asmita for their tireless efforts in well managing the simulation. Of course, I am much thankful to Dear Rahul brother who played amazing role as  a chair and helped me in the organization of the event as well. Thank you dear friend Sandhya, brothers Prashant Bhandari, Ashish Ghimire and Upakar Bhandari for your active participation and assistance.

 PS: Rahul brother and I decided to put on our own bright Eco- generation T-shirt representing Tunza :)