Sydney Males a member of BILM, played a pivotal role at the #BonnClimateConference. Her powerful speech, representing the Youth, underscored the importance of incorporating young voices in the global battle against climate change. Her address highlighted the necessity for intergenerational equity and the significant contributions of Youth in propelling climate action.
The Bonn Climate Change Conference is a crucial event for laying the groundwork for the decisions at COP 29 in 2024. This conference builds on the mandates and objectives set during COP 28 in Dubai, and it will focus on several critical issues such as Indigenous Sovereignty, Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, Loss, and Damage.
Sydney Males speech:
Distinguished Chair and delegates, I am Sydney Males Muenala and I am a young indigenous woman from the Kichwa Otavalo community in northern Ecuador.
As indigenous peoples, the climate crisis poses a threat to our existence and our sacred environment. We are yet to see the Global North take accountability for the impacts they cause in our communities. But today I am here to talk about this present, known in my culture as the Kay Pacha, anchored with the Future, the Hanan Pacha, and with the strength and memory of my ancestors in the Uku Pacha.
A just transition is not free. We must transform the existing unjust socio-economic system and close the widening finance gap. We demand that Parties set a NCQG that addresses challenges on debt sustainability and fair burden sharing. Public finance from developed countries shall be its core. This goal must be set on the basis of historical responsibilities, equity, and CBDR.
Developed countries and fossil fuel industries must pay new, additional, needs-based, and adequate funding to avert, minimize, or respond to loss and damage, especially through the Loss and Damage Fund.
In the NDC process, we demand Parties to meaningfully engage the most vulnerable, especially children and youth in ratcheting their ambitions. They should also ensure concrete actions, accountability, and transparency in achieving 1.5°C.
This process is continually saturated by fossil fuel interests, whilst civil society is left behind. We call on the UNFCCC and Parties to improve their transparency and accessibility processes, prioritize an equitable fossil fuel phaseout, and kick big polluters out. We also reiterate the plea to have the differentiated needs of children acknowledged and mainstreamed under the UNFCCC.As children and youth, our mission is to make sure no one is left behind, and as Parties and other stakeholders say to share the same mission, we expect you to start acting like it.
Runashimi wañurpika tukuy runakunami chinkarishun!
Ceasefire Now! Pay Up! Yupaichani! Thank you!
Comments