Youths of COP: A brief Q&A with people met at COP23.

Q: Please tell me about yourself.

A: My name is Harlino Nandha Prayudha. I’m a student in Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. As an agriculture student, I learned that climate issues really affecting agricultural sector and the future of the world. Deforestation, bad agricultural practices, the rise of waste and landfills contribute to the greenhouse effect which in turn lead to a disaster. I wholeheartedly agree with the making of the Paris Agreement and would like to emphasize that I am eager to pursue efforts that may reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. My involvement with climate change starts when I join IAAS (international association of students in agricultural and related sciences) Indonesia. I initiate a VCP (Village Concept Project) ‘Genteng Bagja’ as a Co-Founder of this program. VCP itself is a social project which aims to improve the living standard of rural communities in terms of agriculture, entrepreneurs, education, and environmental sectors.

Q: What inspired you to be involved in the fight against climate change?

A: I believe that the greatest threats facing this planet are man-made climate change. Witnessing a number of global issues happening in the world and reality of the exacerbated environment condition have encouraged me not only to become the one who can adapt but also become the part of the solution.

Q: Could you highlight one of the projects you or your organization is involved right now?

A:  I believe waste, isn’t a waste as long as we know how to utilize it. As I mentioned before, VCP is one of the focuses from IAAS to fight the climate change, especially the one that related to agriculture. VCP is formed to help rural people empower themselves based on waste treatment and entrepreneurship mentality as a solution for their problems. By transforming eggplant (the least sold product) into a fabulous snack, we help rural communities to empower themselves increase their prosperity and put an end to their waste problem. Furthermore, we encourage farmers to reuse plastic bottle to do “VertiCulture”, a simple way to do farm from home. The project increases people’s income and acts as a waste treatment alternative solution.

Q: What is the typical day of a Global South Scholarship delegate? Are there any topics you are following in this COP?

A: As a GSS Delegate, we have to attend the YOUNGO daily spokes and after that, we can involve in any side events or negotiation that we want. For me, I’m working with the YOUNGO Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Working Group and the YOUNGO Agriculture Working Group. We had daily meetings and working mostly to enhance the youth role in each topic. We make position paper, intervention, action, and press conference to deliver a message and statement of what we stand for. Related to that, agriculture working group already conduct an action to celebrate agriculture day and raising awareness about food waste and press conference to raise youth awareness in agriculture future. The ACE working group had a workshop with the NFP and do several negotiations to encourage countries to include youth/ACE in their NDC’s.

Q: What are the key messages you would like to share with youths in general?

A: Youth is the engine of change who has the power to drive the mission, we have the power to foster the people and connects the dots between people and the decision maker. Make it count.

Content and Media Provided by Harlino Nandha Prayudha

Edited and Arranged by Xiandi