Happy New Year!

On 20th December 2006, ONU established that 2011 will be the International Year of Forests (http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/)
Forests protection and climate change are strictly connected: we have to take care of our global resources!!!
Follow the link to know more: http://www.forestsclimatechange.org/index.html
Have a great beginning and see you in 2011!!!!

COP16, Cancun, Mexico

The last COP, COP16, occured in Cancun, Mexico, from 29^th November to 10^th December.

Here you have some more information about the COP in general and this last COP in particular. To learn more, you can follow the link for the official website of COP16 – Cancun: http://www.cc2010.mx/en/index.php

COP16/CMP6 is the 16th edition of Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) and the 6th Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). “Parties” refers to all the national states that signed and ratified both of the international treaties, committing to observe and comply with its terms regarding international cooperation against climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been signed by 194 State Parties and the Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 184 State Parties. The Conference of the Parties in its authority of the supreme body has the mandate of adopting the necessary decisions for the promotion of its effective application.

The name COP refers to the english acronysm of the reunions of the State Parties on numerous International Treaties ("Conference of Parties"). However, due to the relevance of the subject within the international agenda, the name COP is related to Climate Change. These conferences are celebrated annually between the months of November and December. This year, the Conference took place in Cancun, Mexico, yet it is important to highlight that it is the Convention's Secretariat that organizes them in conformity to the reunions standards established by the United Nations.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is composed of two general categories of participants: The State Parties and the observers. The observers are divided into Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO), who must register and accredit themselves before the Convention's Secretariat in order to participate in the Conferences. Only the representatives of the registered organizations will be allowed to assist attend the sessions of the different bodies of the Convention, as observers.

You can find a list of the participants on UNFCCC website, following this link: http://unfccc.int/parties_and_observers/items/2704.php
 

If you want to know more about the results of the two weeks Conference in Cancun, have a look at the Draft Decision of the COP 16, Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention:

http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_16/application/pdf/cop16_lca.pdf

All the other documents produced can be downloaded on UNFCCC website: http://unfccc.int/2860.php

First International Meeting

On 29-30 September, all the Partners of the project met in Milan for the First International Meeting of "Think Green Think Young".

Participants:

• Elisa Ida Longoni, "Dida", project responsible for Regione Lombardia
• Simona Colombo and Giorgia von Berger from Agenzia InnovA21
• Arianna D'Emilio, from FLA
• Stella Rodio, for the Municipality of Desio
• Giulia Peveri and Camilla Grassi, italian young leaders
• Yoana Angelova, for the Municpality of Burgas
• Daniela Bozhinova, for BSNGI
• Ivaylo Trendafilov, bulgarian young leader
• Josef Pašek, Major of the Municipality of Radnice
• Vaclav Izak, for CSOP
• Anna Chržová, Lucie Čiháková and Filip Blovský, czech young leaders
• Mita Lapi and Matteo Crovetto, experts from FLA
  

On the afternoon of 29th September, after Partners' Presentation and a short introduction about the project, we caught the opportunity of having a guided tour in "Palazzo Pirelli": we visited Carlo Codua’s art exihibition and the 31^th floor of Pirelli skyscraper.
In the evening, after an "Original" pizza together, we arranged to meet at 9.00 in the morning of the day after.

On 30th September, we had a very busy day!
In the morning, we worked hard about the logistic and the contents of the projects for the next months: with the help of our two experts, we spoke about methodolgy, contentsand future actions and with we fixed some shared deadlines for the period october 2010 - june 2011.
In the afternoon, after a quick lunch, we visited Desio (the Muncipality and the most significant places in the town), the place where COP-Y week will be realized on July 2011.
In the evening, we said goodbye and we agreed to "virtually" meet again on the blog, waiting to see again on the COP-Y week!

Who we are

“Think green, think young” is a project funded with the EU program “Youth in Action”.
You have been selected to take part in this adventure!
Together, we’ll organise a Young Conference of the Parties (COP-Y) Lombardy (Italy), starting from the example of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP): the 15th edition was realized in Copenhagen in December 2009.
By realizing the COP-Y, a group of 60 young people (15-25 years old) coming from Italy, Bulgaria and Czech Republic will meet together for a week in July 2011 in Desio (IT) to discuss and to elaborate concrete action plans, as an answer to Climate Change and Sustainable Development challenges.
These themes are two important priorities for the European Union.
Before the meeting in Desio you will attend a training course about these subjects; after the meeting you will implement your shared action plans in your own countries, trying to persuade oher people to change their lifestyle and to adopt a more sustainable way of thinking.

The project will involve 60 young people from the three countries and will last from May 2010 to October 2011.

Are you ready to begin? Let’s start to think green!