While students here in Medford spent the final weeks of last semester scrambling to finish papers and projects, junior and quantitative economics major Rishikesh Bhandary traveled to Bali, Indonesia during the first week of December as a member of the American Youth Delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Bhandary attended the negotiations as one of twenty-two students and young professionals sent to Bali by SustainUS, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that advocates sustainable development and youth empowerment. The conference was hosted by the Indonesian government, bringing together representatives from over 180 countries.
The youth delegates were able to sit in on negotiations, write policy briefs and discuss issues with fellow international youth.
While their role was primarily a learning one, Bhandary said the students had opportunities to be actively involved. "We did a lot of observing, but we also provided input," he said.
With a recent Nobel Prize win under the belt of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Bhandary said he believed that it was a crucial time to discuss climate change.
"There was a lot of momentum moving up to Bali," he said.
The group of young students and professionals had been preparing for the conference since early last summer and had continued communications throughout the fall semester. Because the students hailed from locations across the United States, they relied on e-mail to correspond with one another.
But as the date of the conference drew closer, the group had weekly conference calls to finalize their plans and their policy submissions, a process that lead to concrete proposals based on their opinions.
"We actually wrote down what we thought should be the Kyoto policy recommendations," Bhandary said.
Being able to make such concrete recommendations at such an important conference was a significant achievement for Bhandary.
"The most exciting part was getting to witness and be part of climate negotiations at such a high level," he said.
Bhandary said was surprised at how much input the youth delegation was able to give. "We got to interact with leaders from various countries," he said. "Developing countries, in particular, were very receptive to the policy inputs we had to tell them."
For Bhandary, the most important work done in Bali was the youth delegation's interaction with the American delegates themselves.
"Consistent pressure on the American delegation was one big achievement," Bhandary said.
Because the policy suggested by the youth delegation was radically different from and more aggressive than the official American governmental standpoint, Bhandary believed that the group's stance was an important way to prove to other countries that there are Americans who care about climate issues.
"I think it helped tell all the other government delegates that there is a substantial portion of the American people who believes in climate change and thinks that America should play a leading role in helping mitigate these problems," Bhandary said.
While the youth delegation's impact on the conference cannot be measured, Bhandary said that successfully promoting American awareness of climate issues made the trip worthwhile. "For our delegation, it was definitely successful. I don't know how it was for the entire conference itself," he said.
Attending the conference was also a learning experience for Bhandary and his fellow students.
"We learned a lot during the conference and especially meeting with the American delegation," Bhandary said. "It helped to put in practice how the American leaders see the problem of climate change."
Though policies and procedures can be taught in a classroom, it was important for Bhandary to get to see first-hand how policies are made.
"Especially meeting with the American delegation, [attending the conference] helped to put in practice how the American leaders see the problem of climate change," Bhandary said.
With this knowledge, Bhandary came back to Tufts with a deeper interest in climate issues.
"Going to Bali helped me to put more perspective on what types of classes interest me more and what types of classes would complement my training in energy and economic issues," Bhandary said.
This semester, Bhandary is taking a class on clean air technologies at the Fletcher School and is doing research with Economics Professor Drusilla Brown on how trade can be used to de-carbonize countries.
Bhandary, however, is unsure where these studies will take him.
"I'm interested in policy making and negotiations, so I want to pursue that more. Whether it's through going to school more after Tufts or whether it's working in some capacity in the negotiations and policy making world, I'm not sure yet," he said.
Though Bhandary is uncertain what his personal plans will be, he hopes that a group of Tufts delegates will attend this year's conference in Poland.
"Having a delegation of Tufts students go to the next conference would be a great start. There's a lot of potential that Tufts [students] could contribute to such negotiations," Bhandary said.
