Law students head to Paris for climate change negotiations
Law students Simon Hillier and Lottie Boardman, along with Senior Lecturer Catherine Iorns Magallanes, will head to Paris next month to attend COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The trio are part of a student-led climate change clinic set up within the Law School in March. The clinic’s main platform is the Deconstructing Paris website (www.paristext2015.com), a hub for information surrounding COP21. Its current focus is to dissect and explain the draft negotiating text to make it more accessible to the public and to outline its likely direction.
“At COP21, we’ll be the frontline for the clinic team back home, sending them information as the negotiations unfold,” says Simon.
“The New Zealand team will be uploading blogs and analysis daily and building on our existing information hub to provide in-depth analysis of the negotiations.”
Catherine says she’ll be working with the Legal Response Initiative to provide research assistance from the team back in New Zealand for under-resourced parties at the negotiations.
“We have the advantage of being able to provide this assistance overnight, thanks to the different time zones.”
The students will also produce a documentary of their journey through COP21, the preceding Conference of Youth, and other civil society side events.
Later in November they will be launching a crowd-funding campaign to help fund their trip. Details about the campaign will be available at www.paristext2015.com and www.victoria.ac.nz/law/about/news
Simon and Lottie are also part of the Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute, whose delegation includes seven other young New Zealanders.