This year marked a historic milestone for the DBJW annual German-Baltic Conference: for the first time, Youth Ambassadors presented their policy papers to national parliaments in Germany, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania after the conference. On November 18th, 2024, Cluster D, focusing on AI in Climate Change Management, engaged with Estonian MPs in Tallinn. In this article, Youth Ambassador, Tom Teske, shares his perspective on the parliamentary hearing and reflects on the dynamic discussions that unfolded:
Cluster D has ceremoniously presented its policy paper to the Estonian Parliament - Field report of the parliamentary hearing in Tallinn
More than two months of work went into the eleven-page paper that we, Cluster D of the Youth Ambassadors at the Baltic-German Conference 2024 in Vilnius, ceremoniously presented to a delegation of Estonian parliamentarians on the afternoon of 18 November. In our work, we have explored various ways of using artificial intelligence to combat climate change in Estonia and to deal with its consequences in the best possible way. To this end, we have submitted a total of eight recommendations for action to the Estonian government in four sectors, namely agriculture, construction, energy and biodiversity. Our recommendations range from supporting Estonian farmers in the use of smart farming systems with a focus on sustainability to the use of AI in the monitoring and protection of nature reserves and wildlife populations.
After a restful night in a hostel not far from the UNESCO-protected medieval old town of Tallinn, we used the morning of 18 November for a short exploration tour of the city, including a visit to the Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the Upper Town. We were later to learn that the cathedral is not entirely uncontroversial among the Estonian public and that there were even plans to demolish the building, as it was clearly related to the Russian occupation and thus represented an inappropriate disfigurement of the view from the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament.
After this brief stopover, we made our way to the other side of the street, to the entrance of the parliament. Our guide for the afternoon, Anna Kruusmäe, was already waiting for us there. Firstly, she gave us a detailed tour of the stately rooms of the parliament building and gave us interesting insights into her day-to-day work as a political advisor to the liberal group in parliament. The highlight of this tour was being able to observe parliament in action. Just a moment ago we were looking at the empty chamber downstairs, twenty minutes later we found ourselves in the visitors' gallery and were able to look over the shoulder of the Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, among others, from above.
After this exciting experience, it was time for us to get down to business. The appointment with the four parliamentarians was on the programme. All four politicians who had agreed to meet with us were from the parliamentary group of the liberal Reformierakond party, which leads the governing coalition in Estonia. On the one hand, this may make the composition of the group appear one-sided, but on the other hand, as the largest governing party, the party also has the best opportunity to put our proposals into practice. In addition, the composition of the group offered quite a bit of diversity in terms of personnel. The youngest member of the Riigikogu and climate expert Hanah Lahe, the former Minister of Information Technology Andres Sutt, the philosophy professor at the University of Tartu Margit Sutrop and the physicist Mario Kadastik provided a certain breadth of opinions and expertise despite having the same party membership.
After taking around half an hour to present the Cluster D proposals to our counterparts, we then entered into a substantive dialogue about our proposals. We heard clear interest in our proposals, but were also made aware, among other things, that it is important to communicate with the population at every step of the implementation of such measures. In any case, we left the negotiation room with a good feeling about the constructive atmosphere and are convinced that we have done our best to provide the Estonian government with new options for managing climate change with the help of AI.
After the obligatory final photo in the Parliament's ballroom, we rounded off the successful day in a nice pub in the trendy Telliskivi neighbourhood. This Parliamentary Hearing closed the circle for us as Cluster D in the Estonian capital and we are now a lot richer in experience, knowledge and contacts after our work as Youth Ambassadors. Many thanks to everyone involved and, of course, especially to the German-Baltic Future Foundation for this great opportunity!
Tom Teske (Youth Ambassador Cluster D)