Report on GLYP-conducted Workshop “Youth Driving a Sustainable World”

Submission to World Leaders Conference 2011

By : Green Lanka Youth Platform - - 25 February 2011 -

Table of Contents

Workshop Report – “Youth Driving A Sustainable World”………………………… Pages 4 – 6

Introduction

Policy Tracks

Conclusions / Recommendations

Appendix I – List of Participants…………………………………………………………………. Page 7-8

Appendix II – Photographs from the Workshop………………………………………Pages 9-10

Appendix III – Press releases………………………………………………………………………... Page 11

“Youth Driving a Sustainable World” Workshop Report

Organized by Green Lanka Youth Platform on 13th February 2011

Keynote Address by Mr. Uchita de Zoysa

In fulfillment of the Policy Track requirements for the National Consultation for WLC 2011, the Green

Lanka Youth Platform (GLYP) organized and held its first workshop “Youth Driving A Sustainable World”

on 13th February 2011 in collaboration with the Academy of Design, Sri Lanka, and Mr. Uchita de Zoysa

of the Centre for Environment and Development, Sri Lanka; and Global Sustainability Solutions. GLYP

contacted many higher educational institutes, national and international schools and the local

universities to be a part of the workshop and the response was very encouraging. To further generate

interest, GLYP was able to gain a wider medium in the form of newspaper articles in the Island’s largest

circulating English newspaper, “The Daily Mirror” as well as “The Daily News” which ran a feature on

GLYP’s activities and its initiative in WLC 2011. Please refer to Appendix III.

The objectives of the Workshop were to:

Identify what the Youth of Sri Lanka thought were the “problems” with regard to the current

environment issues.

Discuss on possible “solutions” through debate.

Create more awareness amongst the Youth

Spur creative, original thinking to be used in the formulation of our Policy Papers.

Identify the overall stance of the Youth of Sri Lanka on a range of controversial topics, if

possible.

Extend GLYP’s outreach.

***

The 13th of February saw a number close to thirty-five turn up for the full-day workshop from 9.00 am to

6.00 pm. Information Booklets containing articles of interest on the three Policy Tracks were distributed

– written and compiled by the GLYP Core Committee. These were designed so as to encourage deeper

understanding and act as a starting point during the discussions. The workshop got off to a start with a

video detailing why sustainability was a key issue in today’s world, followed by an explanation of GLYP :

its objectives for the day and for WLC 2011 and an introduction of the Core Committee members. The

Team also gave an introduction to its keynote speaker for the day, Mr. de Zoysa, who then commenced

a detailed and deep explanation into the problems and solutions facing the world with the theme “It has

to be CLIMATE SUSTAINABILITY”. In short, the science of climate change and global warming was

explained, as well as the steps that had been taken as well as what should be done. It was worth noting

that some of the facts which came out stunned some of the attendees – especially that a mere 3% of

global GDP could help to realize the 2°C average global temperature.

The participants watched a 20-minute documentary film by Anne Leonard on consumerist society and its

negative aspects : “The Story of Stuff” *http://www.storyofstuff.com] . This gave a vivid clarity to exactly

where everything we consumed came from; the very process of making ‘stuff’ and how it continued to

be a very big cycle. The important feature which came out was all the negative aspects which sustained

this cycle. In its own way, the documentary helped realize that our consumption was a problem

somewhere, to someone – a climate change problem too.

Following this, GLYP then opened The Dialogue : a session of active speaking and debating by the

participants on what they felt about all the issues. This saw many ideas cropping up and the rich, diverse

angle that the entire discussion took. It began with a suggestion for a decentralization of authority to

better coordinate activities, which turned into a discussion on the pros and cons of decentralization and

whether such a system was capable of forming an international framework. With further thoughts being

volleyed up, it led to a discussion whether a green economy would encompass all these features – and

with it came the turn of the “green economy” to be debated on. This later wound up to an intense

discussion on what exactly were the causes of some problems of consumerism (as depicted in the Story

of Stuff documentary) : was it demand or supply? Population growth? This further went on to look into

green economy aspects and even to disputing over what was and was not achieved at Copenhagen and

Cancun COP meetings! The Dialogue had to be suspended as a break was declared.

The next session of the Workshop saw Mr. de Zoysa giving a brief introduction to the three policy tracks

of WLC 2011 and giving some food for thought for the participants to consider for the round of Debates

which was to follow. All participants were given the choice of choosing a certain Track and each group

ultimately was more or less equal in number. To simplify and cover the vastness of each track, four sub-

topics were provided to guide participants as follows :

Energy for a Low Carbon Future 1. How can we liberate from fossil fuel dependency? 2. How can we regulate unsustainable consumption and production patterns? 3. Is a zero emission future possible? 4. What kind of sustainable lifestyles do we want to live on earth? Environmental Law & Governance

1. Can law and governance ensure environmental protection and sustainable development? 2. Can self governance and voluntary regulations become a successful way to promote sustainable development? 3. What kind of local, national and global governance systems that would be required for sustainable futures to prevail? 4. How do we want our sustainable livelihoods to be governed? Green Economy to Eradicate Poverty 1. What is a green economy? And what are the objectives of a green economy? 2. Can a green economy replace the greed and consumerism in the marketplace? 3. How can a green economy eradicate poverty and create wellbeing for all? 4. What are the pillars of an ideal world of equity, wellbeing and happiness?

Each group had 2-3 Core Committee Members who would act as Facilitators/Mediators, whilst it was

the participants themselves who had to provide, discuss, debate and finally draw conclusions from it all.

Each question was designed with our Policy Paper in mind, so as to get some feedback on what the

youth of Sri Lanka felt regarding these issues. The Facilitators recorded the key viewpoints expressed by

the group. (Please refer to our First Draft of the Policy Paper when submitted for detailed explanations.)

At the end of the group discussion, participants from each group presented its findings and were open

to questions from other groups.

With the presentations done, it was time for the Debate! This picked up from where it had last stopped

in the initial Dialogue and was now supported from the views of the Group Discussions. A clash of

opinions was observed between some groups on some contentious topics. Some groups attacked the

view point of the others based on the information on their individual topics. But eventually there was a

compromise and a common understanding was reached.

With the conclusion of the Debate, the Workshop had almost come to a close. Mr. de Zoysa summarized

the key points and the track of the debate. Participants filled in the Phase 1 Questionnaire as well as a

Workshop Feedback Form.

A Vote of Thanks was proposed by the GLYP Core Committee, recognizing the contributions made by all

and for the invaluable time and effort put in by AoD, Mr. de Zoysa and the participants. On this note all

the participants were ready for some informal conversations as they departed from the venue.

We would like to conclude that the initial consultation was a success and there was room for

improvement in the future dialogues.

Core Committee

Green Lanka Youth Platform

Appendix 1

List of Participants and Institutions

Participants Institutions

Abirami Nithiananthan

Rehan Fernando Media personnel

Akila Abeyrathne Stafford International School

Minseon Lee Colombo International School

Sandamani Ethakada Lyceum International School

Sarah Sulaiman Asian International School

Shan Asian International School

Hamnah Asian International School

Sameera Asian International School

Shaguta Academy of Design

Fazal Independent observer from the corporate sector

Sudarsha Young Asia Television/Editor of Earthlanka.net

Janeen Fernando Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Thuwaraka Ganeshan Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Sinduja Jayaratne Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Chamal Randweta Undergraduate from the University of Ruhuna

Le-Anne Fernando Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Avindi Perera Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Chathura De Silva President of the Young Town

Planners Forum Roshindu Dabreen Member of the Young Town

Planners Forum Sachith Sumanathilake Undergraduate – University of Sri

Jayewardenepura

Tamara Fernando Colombo International School

Rudisha Farenn Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Lamha Saleem Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Fathima Shabir Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Abdul Haniff Observer

Amreen Ameen Royal Institute of Colombo – Degree Programme

Shanali Fernando Academy of Design

Nethmi Rajapakse Academy of Design

Mohammed Husni Rotaract Club of Spectrum IST International Climate Champion

Sikander Rotaract Club of Spectrum

Appendix 2

Photographs from the Workshop

Group covering the second policy track – governance – in

discussion for the debate at hand.

Group covering the third policy track – green economy – in

preparation with Mr. de Zoysa onlooking in the background

Group 2 participants presenting their findings and

recommendations

Continuation of group findings by the other groups

Appendix 3

Press Releases

Article that appeared on the Daily Mirror on 11th of February 2011