First Blog Entry as a Climate Advocate

This is it. My first ever post as a youth climate advocate, and I'm pretty pleased about it. This has been a long time coming. Among other things, the idea behind this blog is to share my experience from having been involved in COPs as well as climate advocacy in general. In a way, this is meant to be a reminder for myself on the importance of committing to climate action, whilst I hope that such content would serve as motivation and inspiration to those who want to contribute to the fight against the climate crisis - no matter how small that contribution may be. 

For starters, I think it would be good to talk about the origins of joining the Malaysian Youth Delegation. Frankly speaking, the rationale behind joining MYD was to assess whether I'd be interested in work related to policy - climate policy to be exact. The fact that I'm still involved with MYD is telling that climate policy work is something that I align with. Having had the opportunity to attend COP in 2017 and 2018 was vital for my education in this field as it enabled me to see an overview of climate negotiations as well as the power play involved in pushing for progressive negotiation outcomes. Though the process of negotiations may be painstaking, the idea is pretty addictive. On top of that, having had the opportunity to engage with ministries who handle the issue of climate change and conversing with them about the issue was highly validating of the work we do. Sure, for one of the engagements, we were somewhat told off about our stance on fossil fuel subsidies, but that only means that the work we were doing was effective.

Also, I think what keeps me going on in this is the fact that there aren't many collectives out there with a focus on climate change, so I feel somewhat of a responsibility in ensuring that there is a climate change narrative within the national scene - but is there?

As one focal point of one of the few youth climate change NGOs here in Malaysia, I think the onus is on me to ensure that the narrative exists. As a focal point, I think it's important for me to lead engagement with our leaders who are within the realm of climate change, and to an extent, beyond. The strategy for that is simple and quite effective actually. For starters, I need to keep up with current events related to climate change and the environment in general. Always see the bigger picture and snap up any opportunity to write a response statement on an issue you do not agree with, especially when it comes from the government. The idea isn't speaking up against the government for the sake of it, but as a civil society organisation, we exist to ensure there is a process of check and balance when it comes to those leading our country. A follow up step is necessary as well to ensure that we formally engage them to listen to their perspective of an issue. It does not necessarily mean that we have to agree with them on a particular issue, but having such an engagement enables an avenue for collaboration - it allows for any gap to potentially be filled. 

So what are you waiting for Syaqil? To an extent, you know what the government, or KASA at least has in the pipeline, or at least what you can talk to them about:

1) Revision of Malaysia's Nationally Determined Contribution and the involvement of youth  

2) The need for a Climate Change Act/amendment of the Environmental Quality Act

3) Formulation of Malaysia's National Adaptation Plan

4) Potential for Climate Change Education within the national syllabus 

5) Formation of a Climate Action Council; so on and so forth.