The Cousteau Society in the COY11

The 11th Conference of Youth is taking place in France, between 26th and 28th November. Bigger than the former COY, its purpose is to present the youth voice just before the COP.

On the 26th, The Cousteau Society had the great pleasure to have an exchange with a worlwide youth group in our Workshop Dataviz “The Ocean in the heart of climate change”. With which propouse? Our aim is informing youth about the consequences of climate change in marine ecosystems but also to motivate them to find solutions to the sustainable development.

During the climate negotiations, youth, in the framework of YOUNGO “the Constituency of youth” organizes various activities in order to

remember to the representatives of governments their moral duty in these negotiations,
push to promote debates on several issues such as climate change education,
ensure the link between the young people who cannot participate to the COPs (being part of the IYCM or not) and keep them updated on the evolution of the negotiations.

In the evening, we also had the pleasure of participating in the round table on “Nature, is there a risk of privatization?”, We discussed with scientists, representatives of indigenous communities and of course the public present about the following boullet points:
– Thought buying the land for sanctuaries or to industrialize, we stablish a price for biodiversity and natural synergies and could raise ethical questions.
-The Climate change and degradation due human activities in our ecosystems and what they bring to men, because certainly these degradations have a cost.
– In order to safeguard our environment, are we obliged to integrate into the economic logic? What are the risks? ”
Tarik Chekchak, Director Science & Environment of The Cousteau Society shared the roundtable with Marine Gauthier, Consultant for the United Nations on governance issues (REDD +, COP21), Alain Karsenty, an economist and researcher at CIRAD, Department “Environments and Societies”, Patrick Saïdi Hemedi, representing indigenouscommunities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Laure Ducos of BLOOM Association which mediated the debate.

A great day full of refreshing and dynamic exchanges that make us feel motivated to face the current circumstances …