COP27 and COY17 (Part 3): What I learned During the 3 Days of COY17 – 1st Day Sessions!

As you already know, COP27 and COY17 is the series for this whole December as I try to summarize some of the most important aspects and achievements of COP27 and COY17, the huge Climate related events that took place this November 2022 in Egypt in a city called Sharm El-Sheikh. We have already shared what COP and COY are and, in today’s article, I will just summarize what happened during COY17, at least that which I personally came across. So, let us go!

The conference of the youth (COY) happened between 2rd and 4th November 2022 at Tolip Inn Hotel gardens and halls in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. As I earlier narrated, I took the flight earlier and arrived about 2 days earlier! Additionally, YOUNGO, the chief organizers had provided us with accommodation and meals, saving us all the struggles. I, therefore, had a lot of rest and time to prepare for the event!

READ THIS: What is COP27? What is COY17? Explore now!

COP27 and COY17: First Day of COY17!

In my personal experience, day 1 of COY17 opened up with a lot of anticipations, but also confusions. First, while I had arrived in the town earlier, I had not purchased a local Simcard for myself, implying that I didn’t have reliable mobile internet for myself. I had thought that public WIFI would be everywhere during the conference. I was wrong! Unfortunately, COY17 agenda was only available online and one needed internet to access it.

COY and COP conferences are organized in a way that many sessions happen at the same time in different rooms and by different presenters, and it is up to you, the attendee to explore the agenda and decide for yourself the sessions you will attend and those you will miss! Failure to access the agenda can mess up with your experience! Who you are, your interests, your aims and goals, and everything else personal guides your choices between sessions. We will come back to these tips later in other posts! Anyway, I still found a way to enjoy my day one!

I left my room at about 8:30am, and walked off to the venue, just behind the hotel’s accommodation rooms. I mean, the venue was part of the hotel’s premises. The venue was cool, graced with enough space, cleanliness, swimming pool, good neighborhood, and of course enough security! The first stop was the registration point, just in front of the main hall or the event hall. After registration, which was easy and swift, I joined others and we walked off into the hall!

READ THIS: The Journey to Egypt for COP27 and COY17, my experience

Wow! The hall was beautiful and huge! Decorated with all sorts of environment and climate related messages, you could see the hand of youth in everything that made up the hall! The seats were decorated in green, white, and red, and the podium a little raised (just a little above those seated in the middle). Seats were more than enough and, yeah, young people were more than excited!

Few things happened in the main hall, and they centered around opening remarks, some Egypt Government officials and United Nations and US representatives making some politically-motivated assurances, and off we were out, now to join various sessions per individual’s choices. As can be seen on the COY17 agenda, sessions were happening in various rooms in different halls or houses, by different presenters, and most of them colliding in terms of time. You just had to choose which ones to attend!

DOCUMENT: A summarized presentation of all the topics for COY17 as they appeared on the 3-day agenda

COP27 and COY17: The sessions on the first day of COY17!

In addition to the opening remarks and leaders’ speeches in the main hall (also called ‘The River Nile Theatre’), more than 36 sessions happened on that same day, with an average of 6 sessions per room. As earlier highlighted, I had no internet. I wasn’t sure of anything going on anywhere! So, I wasted some few minutes outside, chatting with people, making connections, taking some photos of the swimming pool, and the like!

However, I quickly realized I was going to waste the whole day! There is a lady who assisted me, and allowed me to have a look at the agenda on her phone. I took a photo of just one room or house on her phone, decided to go into the house and attend whatever appeared appealing from there. Well, this strategy worked!

The first session at COY17: The first session I attended was called ‘The role of youth in promoting global action on climate migration and peace nexus’, which happened in Osiris room 2 between 1pm and 2:30pm. The session simply explored actions and initiatives that young people are championing in their countries to accelerate climate action. The presenter was a beautiful young lady from Egypt, and she had knowledge and skills. She shared some amazing cases of youth initiatives, and I as a social and environment entrepreneur got inspired!

The question is, what is your role in climate change crisis? Are you doing it? If you aren’t sure of where to get started from, join our SACRED ENTREPRENEURSHIP program and we will make you a ‘sacred’ entrepreneur!

The second session at COY17: The second session I attended was, oh no, I have forgotten the name, and I can’t trace what it was on the agenda, oh my God! However, the session centered around story telling for climate action and how to bring the voice of the most vulnerable populations into the conversation.

The presenter was Dr. Jacinta Higgs, and I managed to steal away a selfie with her. This woman is amazingly eloquent, and passionate about young people. In her session, I felt cared for and included.

She asked us, tell us one category of people you think are vulnerable to climate crisis, and one way of supporting them? Most people suggested youth and children, refugees and migrants or immigrants, farmers, women, people with digital disability, and, yeah, I added people with disabilities. On people with disabilities, I specifically took the side of people with albinism for obvious reasons, including the fact that the rising global temperature and sun-heat across the globe affects their skin much more than it does the rest of the population! This session was beautiful.

READ THIS: Miklah Life is intentionally customizing her initiatives to include people with albinism, see details of the program here. Thank you

The third session at COY17: The third session that I attended on that day was called ‘Youth: The driving force of climate research and evidence-based advocacy’. I loved this session. It resonated well with me for various reasons.

One, the session emphasized the role of research and evidence-based climate activism, things I am passionate about. I mean, I founded a whole standalone initiative about research, the Research Ward. Secondly, I am one of the few guys who criticize some approaches of climate activism for being baseless, shallow, and less scientific or less evidence-based! So if someone talks about research, I join in quickly!

One of the presenters was Saad Uakkas, and, yeah, this guy is good and knowledgeable. His twitter account shows he is an MD and MPH professional, and this could explain his passion for research. And maybe mine too! Lol. Of course, we took a selfie! I met this guy more other time during COP27, and he will probably show up in my list of the ‘amazing people I met during COP27 and COY17‘.

NB: We plan to start off a dedicated research section for sustainability and environment health at Research Ward, the research arm of Miklah Life. You could even head that! Join us!

The fourth session at COY17: The fourth session that I attended on that first day of COY17 was called ‘Involving small businesses in the climate change agenda’, happened in Alexandria room 1, presented by Koval Anton. Well, I surely don’t know if Koval Anton, the presenter on the agenda, is the actual one who presented. Good thing is I took a selfie with the presenter! I have tried Googling the name, but was unable to identify and associate the photo with the name!

The session centered around involving small businesses in the agenda of climate action. The presenter asked us to discuss reasons why small businesses don’t get involved in climate change. He also asked us to suggest remedies.

Answers to the first inquiry ranged from poor incentives for such efforts to lack of information and resources to ignorance! According to me, most businesses look at climate change or environmental sustainability requirements as liabilities to spend on. However, in my view, climate change and the whole sustainability agenda is a business opportunity. Small businesses need to look at climate action not as a liability to spend on, but an opportunity to invest in and make more meaningful returns, including sustainability of their enterprises. That is why, at Miklah Life, we propose that the youth and small businesses should approach climate crisis not as philanthropists or volunteers or charity makers (though these are good too) but as social and environment entrepreneurs!

NB: See our approach to climate change needs and all other socioeconomic challenges; SACRED ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Download our short presentation here and join the program!

I don’t remember attending any other session after the fourth one! I took selfie with some beautiful ladies, and called it a day!

Wait! Remember, I had no internet. I used the rest of the evening to go to town, somewhere called Naama Bay, bought a local simcard with internet, Etisalet, and got myself set for the next day. This I accomplished with a lady called Caroline who had explored the places more than I the previous day. Well, below are few of the photos we took that evening!

And that is how day 1 of COY17 ended! This is COP27 and COY17 series. In the next posts, I will share with you what happened during the 2nd and 3rd days of COY17. Then we will move on to summarize the two weeks of COP27. And that will be it! For now, God bless you.

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