As a side-event of the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme provides a forum for students to discuss agenda-setting and process within the COP negotiations with social scientists, policy-makers and activists.

This event will screen and discuss a 50 minutes film of the retrospective simulation of the COP 15 negotiations conducted by students at Sciences Po, in Paris, France, in June 2010. The film sheds fascinating light on the connections between negotiation formats and outcomes, as well as giving a committed group of young people an opportunity to express their views on environmental challenges. Many of the students were subsequently involved in a simulation of the Rio + 20 negotiations, an exercise supported by UNESCO’s MOST Programme, and are currently engaged in NGOs focusing on global environmental issues.

After presenting the Rio+20 simulation outcomes to a UNESCO/International Social Science Council/UNRISD side event at Rio+20, the students will now have the opportunity, after the screening of the film, to express their views on agenda-setting and process within the COP process and on gaps and priority areas, and to participate in debate with social scientists, policy-makers and activists.