Oceania Youth in Climate Negotiations Network

Oceania Youth Climate Negotiation Network

Welcome to Oceania Youth Climate Negotiation Network, otherwise known as OYCNN (pronounced 'ocean')!

We are a grassroots organisation of young people who are dedicated to upskilling fellow young people on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

We would like to acknowledge and pay the utmost respect to the First Nations peoples throughout Oceania. We endeavour to be guided by your leadership and we are grateful for your ongoing custodianship which protects, guards and allows the flourishing of our planet.

Imagine: A negotiation room during COP, an Australian negotiator is seated at the table with the negotiation text in front of them. The margins include notes developed over months of collaboration with youth climate leaders across Oceania, including a youth advocate from a Pacific island nation who has lived experience of climate impacts. The Negotiator read out specific wording suggestions. It was developed through structured dialogue between gov negotiators and trained youth advocates (by OCYNN!) who understand the negotiation tracts, the financial mechanisms and how to propose text that could realistically gain support. After the negotiation, the negotiator walks out of the room while having a quick chat with the youth advocate on the reaction in the room, potential pushbacks and how the paragraph might be reframed to secure broader consensus without losing ambition.

Who are we?

We are a group of young people who have attended international climate negotiations as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We have had to learn about the language used in the UNFCCC, the etiquette, and build networks, mostly in informal and independent ways.

We want to make the process of engaging in the UNFCCC easier, to make sure more young people observe the UNFCCC to ensure it is progressive, transparent and accountable. Hence, we are volunteering our time to build this network!

We envision:

young people across Oceania are informed, confident and actively shaping international climate negotiations and observers.
OCYNN bridges the gap between youth voices and international climate decision making by equipping young people with the knowledge skills and access needed to directly engage in UNFCCC processes - from understanding negotiation dynamics to influencing outcomes on paper.
OCYNN doesn’t speak for youth, we equip youth to influence/speak for themselves.
COP negotiation rooms where youth from Oceania are not observers in the room but trusted partners in shaping the text. Where negotiators walk into sessions carrying docs with language written by youth climate leaders with lived experience of climate change, translated into negotiation terms.