Eight Columbia Students to Participate in Climate Conference Simulation in France in Anticipation of Next Major Climate Conference (COP21) to be Hosted in Paris

NEW YORK, April 20, 2015---This May, Columbia University’s Maison Française and Alliance Program are sending a delegation of eight students to participate in “Paris Climat: Make It Work,” an international climate change negotiations simulation held by the French university Sciences Po, one of Columbia’s major partners abroad. The selected students come from a wide range of schools at the university, including Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the School of Continuing Education, the Law School, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of International and Public Affairs. Individual delegates have been involved in climate change work from scientific, social, economic, and policy perspectives in both the U.S. and abroad, and they will bring a diverse set of experiences and interests to the mock simulation in Paris.

In November and December 2015, Paris is hosting the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Experts anticipate COP21 to be a particularly crucial conference, as state parties to the UNFCCC agreed to establish a binding international climate action agreement by the end of 2015 and are expected to do so in Paris. This agreement will be a catalyst for meaningful, collective action to reduce global carbon emissions.

In 2010, Sciences Po hosted COP Rewind: a student-led climate simulation to explore how COP15 in Copenhagen could have unfolded differently. In light of the success of Sciences Po’s initiative, Sciences Po is organising another innovative student simulation on climate negotiations from May 26 to 31 at Paris’s Théâtre de Nanterre-Amandiers.

More than 200 students will be participating in the simulation, which will hopefully send a strong signal to policymakers and civil society before COP21. The Columbia University delegation will be working with students from Sciences Po and from some of the Sciences Po's partner universities around the world such as Tsinghua University (Beijing), LSE (London), and ULB (Brussels).

The objective of this conference simulation is threefold. The first is to propose an alternative model for climate negotiations. The conference will not exactly follow the conventional Model United Nations format or UNFCCC strategy, but will instead attempt to reconstruct existing norms, transform modes of representation, and democratize the debates about how best to address the challenges posed by climate change. Some of the student delegations will represent nation-states, but others will represent actors not represented in conventional international negotiations, such as specific territories, natural resources, or ecosystems. Secondly, the conference aims to highlight the voice of youth in climate negotiations and to show how engaged and mobilized young people are in global civil society. Thirdly, the conference will provide a unique, dynamic learning experience for the students focused on learning through experience.

The results of the simulation will be publicized and presented at the international scientific conference organised by UNESCO in preparation for COP21. They will also be evaluated by decision makers during the November 2015 COP21 conference.

Delegation members:

Joanna Zhou is a lawyer from Sydney, Australia who is currently completing a Masters of Law at Columbia Law School. Previous to her studies, she practiced as a commercial lawyer in Australia with a focus on the energy and resources sector, energy regulation, climate change contracts and advice. Joanna has also previously worked in several jurisdictions with various domestic and international non-profit groups on climate change policy and international climate negotiations.

Kimberly Stama is completing an MS in Sustainability Management from the Earth Institute. She studied community development and sustainability as an undergraduate at Penn State and has completed internships with United Way and Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Currently she is the project manager for her capstone, assessing the Natural Resource Defense Council's Sustainable Operations Plan. She is also a 2014 finalist and 2015 applicant for Morgan Stanley's Sustainable Investing Challenge, where she and her team are focused on a plan to grow sustainable palm oil on degraded land.

Logan Brenner is a PhD student studying paleoclimatology in Columbia University's department of Earth and Environmental Science working at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She uses coral geochemistry to reconstruct past ocean conditions, particularly precipitation patterns over Panama and sea surface temperature change since the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 years ago) in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Logan is also passionate about science communication and ocean conservation.

Elana Sulakshana is a second-year student at Columbia College studying Sustainable Development and Human Rights. She is particularly interested the intersection of climate change and human rights issues such as poverty, food security, and migration. She has worked for the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), 350.org, and is currently an intern at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Center for Environment, Economy, and Society (CEES) at the Earth Institute.

Nikita Perumal is a third-year student in the Dual BA Program between Columbia and Sciences Po. She is majoring in Human Rights and concentrating in Sustainable Development, with an aspiration to work with environmental policy and climate justice advocacy in the future. Nikita has been involved with several environmental organizations throughout her education and has interned at The Climate Institute and Environment New York.

David Prieto is a Master of Science candidate in Sustainability Management at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. His interest in the dichotomies between nature and society led him to pursue a degree in politics and international relations at the University of London where he specialized in climate change policy. He attended COP 20 as well as interned at various policy think tanks. David currently works as a pro bono consultant developing sustainable management recommendations for the government of Palau.

Michael Kowiak is a fourth-year student in Columbia College studying political science and economics. He is especially interested in solving the collective actions problems associated with international climate change negotiations, and would like to work with an intergovernmental organization in the future. He has previously interned in the legal and financial sector, focusing on regulatory issues. Michael is also actively involved with the Maison Française at Columbia.

Anastasia Yanchilina is a finishing Ph.D. student at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, in geochemistry and paleoceanography. Anastasia is originally from Moscow, Russia but immigrated with her family in the late 1990s to Chicago. Proficiency in math and science and a passion for the outside world led her to study meteorology at Creighton University. She then went on to do a master's degree and doctoral work at Columbia University on past climate change, integrating science with a modern global issue. Anastasia has participated in a number of Congressional Visit Days on the Hill to communicate to members of Congress about the significance of taking action on climate change and also is an alumna of the American Meteorological Society Summer Policy Colloquium.

Sponsors:

The Columbia student delegation is supported by the Maison Française and the Alliance program, with some travel funding contributed by Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

The Alliance program is a platform creating joint educational and academic synergies between Columbia University and three prestigious French institutions: the École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, and Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Since its creation at Columbia University in 2002, the Alliance program has launched and facilitated numerous initiatives and grants that have allowed faculty to build global partnerships of excellence through collaborative exchange, dual degrees and joint research projects. To find out more, please visit: http://alliance.columbia.edu/.

The Columbia Maison Française is a leader in fostering intellectual and cultural exchange between the United States and France, Europe, and the French-speaking world. Through a wealth of stimulating and innovative programming, the Maison Française generates debate, spotlights original scholarship, promotes exchange across disciplines at Columbia and beyond, and contributes to international and cross-cultural understanding in an increasingly global world.