Vector Volume 12 Issue 2 - 2018

Rulebook”. This rulebook will be a guide for all
involved countries as to how they should go
about conducting climate change mitigation and
adaptation activities in the upcoming years.[2]
The rulebook is due to be finalised at the end of
2018 at the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) in
Katowice, Poland. The significance of COP24 has
earned its name “Paris 2.0” (COP21 was where the
Paris Agreement was signed).
Why do medical students go?
At every UN Climate Conference, hundreds of
people from around the world
come as “observers” to watch,
learn and contribute to the UN
Climate process, even though
they are not parties to the Paris
Agreement. Youth observers
(‘YOUNGOs’) are a particularly
important group at every
conference, as the UN “recognizes
the key role that youth play in
tackling climate change”.[3]
The IFMSA has been sending
youth observers to UN Climate
Conferences for a number of
years. This is because the IFMSA
believes that climate change is an immense
global health issue, an issue which future medical
doctors should be working hard to address as a
matter of urgency.
The preamble of the Paris Agreement
acknowledges “climate change is a common
concern of humankind” and states that climate
action must respect “obligations on human rights
[including] the right to health”.[4] Over the past
few years, IFMSA delegates have been working
hard at UN Climate Conferences to ensure that
parties to the Paris Agreement remember that
climate change is a significant health issue.
‘... the IFMSA believes
that climate change
is an immense global
health issue, an issue
which future medical
doctors should be
working hard to
address as a matter of
urgency.’
What did we do there?
We did so many wonderful things while
attending the conference. First and foremost,
we had the opportunity to meet amazing people
from around the world, all working incredibly
hard to fight climate change and ensure the
ongoing health of our planet. These included
other globally-minded medical students and
youth environmental activists from a wide variety
of countries. We also had the privilege to interact
with representatives from the World Health
Organisation (WHO), and the Executive Secretary
of the UN’s main climate change
organisation, the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC).
We sat in on the international
negotiation sessions between
different countries about the
Paris Rulebook, which was an
incredible experience. Getting to
see how the UN works in reality
is a fascinating (if sometimes
bewildering) experience. Alongside
the negotiations, we were able to
attend a range of presentations and
workshops that were being run at the conference.
This included the WHO’s talk regarding health
impacts of air pollution; a legal team aiding a group
of Swiss grandparents in their action of suing the
government for a lack of action towards climate
change; and many presentations addressing the
need to empower women and youth to lead the
charge on climate activism.
Finally, we got involved in a bit of activism to
help remind all the delegates of the urgent health
issues posed by climate change. In both weeks
of the conference, the IFMSA delegation held a
little “action” in the main lobby where we dressed
up in lab coats, stethoscopes and more. We were
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