CALD Youth Discusses Climate Change in Boundless Mongolian Steppes

The Youth Council for Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD Youth) convened in Mongolia last 19-22 September 2014 for the Climate Change Communication Seminar and Climate Change Youth Camp. Hosted by the CALD chair-party Civil Will Green Party (CWGP), the joint events hoped to promote climate change awareness and encourage appropriate climate change response among the participants. More specifically, the seminar tackled the use of new media and social media to promote climate change awareness among the youth, while the youth camp served as an experiential and hands-on activity for leadership capacity-building on climate change.

The events commenced with a press conference at the 25th TV station attended by: Daramdorj Damdinsuren, Cabinet Secretary, CWGP; Paul Rafael, Program and Administrative Officer (Youth & Climate Change) of Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD); Tone Bjorndal, Climate Change Programme Manager, International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY); and Tsogzolmaa Jamsrandorg, Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors, and Vice President for Media, CWGP. Members of the media inquired on the vulnerability of countries to climate change, to which Rafael responded: “Climate change is a phenomenon that puts everyone at risk. In the past years, however, the Asia Pacific seems to be the most vulnerable region to the adverse impacts of climate change. In this regard, we in CALD Youth recognise the need to act now, and the potential of the younger generation to be at the forefront of the movement and campaign for climate change awareness.”

CWGP General Secretary Ganbat Tseepel and CALD Youth Chairperson Nant Thananan officially opened the Climate Change Communications Seminar held at Ulaanbaatar Hall of the Corporate Hotel and Convention Center on 19 September. Focusing on the important role of new media and social media in the international, regional and national political landscapes, the seminar featured resource persons from various fields – communication, youth networking and policy-making.

Gang Badoy, Founder of RockEd Philippines, a successful volunteer group espousing alternative education, emphasized the importance of good communication strategies in making climate change understandable to the general public. While climate change needs to be based in science, Badoy said: “Climate Change needs clarity. It needs to be sexy to the young…Our challenge is to digest it into digestible form…If you want to say something, you have to choose the best language to say it and where to say it.” Drawing from her vast experience in RockEd and many other advocacy groups, she pointed out that the new media and social media are powerful tools to mobilize people – from disaster response to climate change action.

Similarly, IFLRY’s Tone Bjorndal tackled how social media could be tapped to promote climate change awareness. More specifically, she highlighted three important guidelines: (1) the message should tell a story that people can relate to; (2) the message should impart key information on climate change; and (3) the message should have a positive spin to generate the desired response. Bjorndal will lead the IFLRY delegation at the UNFCCC COP 20 in Lima, Peru this coming December.

Every successful communication campaign should start with a good message – and a good message should be based on established, well-founded information. This was conveyed in the presentations of former Philippine legislator Felicito Payumo and Gerelt-Od Tsogtbaatar of the Climate Change Coordination Office, Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Green Development. By looking at the issues in Bataan National Park in the Philippines and Mongolia’s Climate Change Action Programme respectively, these policy-makers/implementors emphasized the need for climate change programmes to be properly communicated to the general public.

On the next day, September 20, the participants were formally welcomed by CALD Chairperson and Mongolian Minister for Environment and Green Development Oyun Sanjaasuren and CWGP Head of Foreign Relations Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren. Chuluun Togtokh, Adviser to Minister Oyun, then provided a detailed presentation on Mongolia’s climate change issues and challenges. Henning Hone, Member of Parliament (North Rhine-Westphalia) from Germany’s Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP), delivered the keynote address. In his speech, he explained how communities react to climate change as an issue and how climate change advocates should provide sound solutions that would not disrupt people’s daily living. “We need smart solutions that do not affect the standard of living because we want people to want to act against climate change. We do not want them to feel that it is something that is hurting them. We want to make them feel that it is something that is helping them.

” Three workshops followed, which were facilitated by Asia Foundation’s Ariunaa Norovsambuu, CWGP’s Monsor Nyamdavaa and RockEd’s Badoy. In the first workshop, Visual Explorer, the participants were given pictures related to climate change and were asked the following questions: (1) How do we see a world with climate change?; and (2) What should be our response?. The second workshop was a world café, where the participants discussed how to sell climate change to their respective political parties, how to tap youth networks for climate change campaigns and how CALD Youth could help in this regard. In the last workshop, the participants were asked to group by country, tackle their climate change issues, and come up with a communications campaign or action plan. The day was capped by a sumptuous dinner that also featured a ceremonial handover of CALD Chairmanship from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to the CWGP. In her acceptance speech, Minister Oyun pledged her commitment to the ideals that CALD have espoused and fought for in the past twenty years. She said: “It is a huge challenge to promote liberal values in Asia. It (CALD) only goes forward and succeed because we have a huge conviction in our ideology, our liberal values for freedom of choice, (for) democracy, for good governance…and sustainable development.”

The last two days of the events were devoted to exploring the Mongolian countryside – with community work at the Ger district, case study of nomadic Mongolian household and hike at the Khustain Nuruu National Park.

Reflecting on the outcomes of the events, CALD Youth Chair Thananan said: “The trip gave us a perspective of the raw natural beauty of the world and the need to preserve it. I think that the inspiration we all got from the trip will be forwarded to our networks in each of our countries. Invigorated by our Mongolian sojourn, CALD Youth will continue with more climate change projects based on the one we had in Mongolia, which has become our new benchmark for future events.”