I have come with 500 young people from around the world. Youth have been coming to the UN climate negotiations since the first COP. However traditionally they have worked on domestic policy and lobbied their own countries. Traditionally they have been from the developed world.

This year we’ve broken tradition. I’ve come with the first ever Indian Youth delegation, along with many other representatives from the global south. We are 500 young people from 50 different countries; and we’ve managed to unite under the banner of equity and survival.

Unite in a way our leaders have failed.

We started this conference in hope that perhaps we’d be able to sway the positions of the developed world. Allow from some progressive commitments, but soon realised the unlikelihood of such happenings. So we shifted focus, if we couldn’t shift the developed countries, to listen and act upon our moral requests, we thought, why not support and strengthen the voice of the developing nations. Youth have always recognised the significance of equity and justice, the right to adequate representation of all countries, especially those that are most affected. Hence we decided to support delegations that were under represented and the most severely affected – the Island nations (AOSIS) and least developed countries (LDCs).

You see, delegations of the smaller and poorest countries of the world have one, two, maximum four members on their delegations. They have to write their entire policy position, cover multiple areas of concern, working night and day from before the negotiations even start. They barely have enough time to eat or sleep, and to make matters worse, the accommodation they’re provided is far away from the COP venue (unlike accommodation given to the more affluent countries). The consequence is, they participate in the negotiations tired and hungry, and if they leave the room for a toilet break or to grab lunch, the voice of that country goes unrepresented.

In COP14 youth have supported these underrepresented countries. We’ve helped them in their policy formulation, bought them lunch, coffee, photocopied for them and arranged their taxies home. This quickly lead to the formation of a friendship between youth and many LDC and AOSIS nations, and resulted in a humble request. The message from these countries was that they were appreciative of youth helping them at the COP, however what was of utmost importance to them was that their voices weren’t being heard.

An unofficial alliance was formed and the common goal of “survival” was realised. The voices of the poorest nations weren’t being heard, just like that of the youth. We as young people, future inhabitants of the earth with face very real survival challenges, as were the island nations and poorest countries of the world. My neighbours in Bangladesh soon enough will be submerged underwater, with millions left without homes. It will be a fight for survival. A fight for the poorest of our nations. A fight for the young people in these nations.

Forget the future, its happening today!

In the Sunderbans, off the coast of West Bengal, people have been drinking saline water for over a year, their crops have been continually ruined, the fish have died due to contamination from aline water, and boils and sores all over their body.

That’s not living, that’s survival.

My bhaiya (brother) in Alwar district, Rajasthan tells me that they don’t have any more water, that the rich have their water supplied from other regions, whilst the poorer deal with water contamination.

That’s not living, that’s survival.

My family in Bhadrak Orissa were victims to the ’99 Orissa cyclone, at a magnitude rarely seen. They describe stories of walking in neck deep water, of rotting animal carcasses and human corpses flowing down the street and filling the air with a bloody stench. Of my uncle saving a friend from drowning and of sand submerged buildings on the shore. Over 10,000 people died and thousands left homeless.

Thats not living that’s survival.

We are going to see more of this, especially those of us living in poorer parts of the world. The poorest nations and poorest people of the world shouldn’t have to deal with this. The youth of the world shouldn’t have to deal with this.

We all have a right to survival.

In the past 24h we have gotten the signatures from over 50 different countries committing to the pledge of “safeguarding the survival of all countries and people”. We have gotten the support from all AOSIS nations, from many LDC nations, and even countries like Italy and Austria. However we need the commitment of all countries. We can’t move forward or come to an equitable Copehagan agreement unless the underlying principles are equity and survival. I call upon each and every country to commit, that we don’t leave Poznan without committing to the goal of survival – that nation will be left behind.
(note: we ended up with over 80 countries in 48h)

So come join us in getting our countries to commit, and build a world we want to LIVE in, not merely survive.