A FORMER John Paul College and Frankston Chisholm VCE student has been offered a place at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP21 – in Paris later this year.
Madelin Orr, 19, is one of four Australian recipients of a fully-funded scholarship from Global Voices, thanks to sponsorship from her university.
“I am an external first year Bachelor of Laws student at Central Queensland University and have been granted the opportunity to represent not only Global Voices and my university – but also Australia and Frankston – as a delegate on the ground at COP21,” she said.
Ms Orr is undertaking a research fellowship on gender specific adaptation policies in climate change and will be writing an opinion piece while staying in Paris.
“Climate change affects women much more than men,” she said.
“More often than not, especially in the developing world, women bear the brunt of climate change more than men.
“By involving women in policy making, first-hand accounts of the devastation of climate change can be used to represent the feminist perspective and implement strategies used by women on a daily basis.
“This would include their knowledge of coping strategies used to ensure the availability of food production, household water supply and energy use, which will strengthen international negotiations regarding adaptation in climate change.”
The COP21 climate change conference – the21st conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – runs 30 November-11 December.
The conferences provide an annual platform for governments to forge policy solutions to global climate change. This year, for the first time, world leaders will come together with scientific experts and high-level environmental policymakers to create binding international legislation on climate, sustainability and clean energy.
“Attending this conference will allow me to sink my teeth into the debate on climate change,” Ms Orr said.
“It will assist in my knowledge of key issues regarding the role gender has to play in the practice of adaptation in a climate-based setting which I intend to address on the international stage in Paris.”
In preparation for COP21, Ms Orr joined her fellow Global Voices delegates in Canberra to meet politicians on both sides of politics to hear their views on climate change.
“The meetings were open conversations with MPs where we could ask questions on anything that came to mind, but, obviously, each delegate focused their questions on the delegations they are attending,” she said.
“I asked questions in relation to gender specific adaptation in climate change. Julie Bishop offered insight into the involvement of women in climate change policy making and areas in which I should pinpoint my research.
“We also met with members of the US Embassy, DFAT and economic advisors.”
