Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD), Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore (ESI-NUS) and Singapore Youth Climate Action (SYCA) organized ASEAN Pre-Conference of Parties (Pre-COP) Capacity Building Workshop 2018 in Malaysia and Singapore. The ASEAN Pre-COP Session in Malaysia was hosted by MYD in Oasis Village, Ara Damansara follow by the session in Singapore, hosted by ESI-NUS and SYCA at The Red Box, Somerset Rd.

Five key points in both workshops are;

• An introduction of United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Introduction of Youth Constituency to the UNFCCC (YOUNGO) and the rest of the constituency.
• Role of Youth on which covers youth organization that active in ASEAN region.
• Info transition from Subsidiary Bodies Meeting (SB48.2) in Bangkok, Pre-COP in Krakow, Poland and finally heading towards COP24.
• Focus topics that will be covered in COP24 and update on Katowice Rulebook.

In Malaysia, MYD covered most of the key points, where Mike presented on the Introduction of UNFCCC and Role of Youth. We had representation from our Singaporean counterpart, Lastrina Hamid from SYCA, who presented on her organisation and her experience in previous COP conferences. The session followed by a sharing session by Shaqib Shahril from MYD, who covered Key Topics in COP24. The workshop ended with Aaliyah from MYD, who spoke on the transition from SB48.2 to COP24.

The session in Singapore took on a similar approach to the Malaysian session. However additionally, Melissa Low from ESI-NUS covered in depth on the Katowice Rulebook. Meanwhile, the event in Singapore added a bit of twist compare to MYD which is introducing Singapore’s Carbon Pricing Act and its relationship with to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This session was facilitated by Environmental Law Student Association, National University of Singapore (ELSA-NUS). MYD member, Shaqib Shahril been invited as a panel for this session. The session continued with a storytelling workshop and writing tips – especially aimed for those who are going to COP24. It then followed by a pitching project by Yale-NUS College Student and their plans in COP24 as a part of Singapore Youth Delegation.

Both Pre-COP sessions were really fruitful, covering the basics of this year’s COP24 – relating the Paris Agreement and Katowice Rulebook to national policy. Both of the Malaysian and Singaporean session has gathered approximately 40 ASEAN youths, with representation Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Japan.

The Pre-COP session in Singapore coincided with the ASEAN Summit 2018, whereby Singapore is the host for the ASEAN Meeting and high-level segments. Both session shows the credibility and position of youth from ASEAN in the climate change scene from this region.

We would like to express our appreciation and gratitude to WWF-Malaysia for supporting our workshop in Malaysia and our partners from ESI-NUS and SYCA, Melissa Low and Lastrina Hamid for making this capacity building workshop at an ASEAN scale into reality.

Written by Shaqib Shahril

Edited by Jasmin Irisha