Youth delegates and ministers convene for a plenary session in the final day of the Youth4Climate conference in Milan, Italy. (Photo by John Leo Algo)
By John Lee Algo/Oeconomedia
Oct 5 2021
Youth4Climate gathers 400 youth delegates from 189 countries to formulate a unified statement for climate action
There is no one else who has more at stake in the era of the climate emergency than the youth. For other sectors their livelihoods, homes, or entire ways of life could fully disappear. For the youth, they are being robbed of a chance to even build any of these in the future.
It is the right of the youth to be included and involved in decision-making processes in addressing the climate crisis. But what exactly should meaningful participation be?
The “Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition” event in Milan, Italy, is the latest attempt to answer this question. This is part of activities in preparation for the 2021 UN climate summit or COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, where world leaders will resume negotiating the terms of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the climate crisis.
Youth4Climate was a three-day conference where 400 youth delegates from 189 countries convened to formulate a unified statement for climate action. It was a historic occasion, as this marks the first massive gathering of this nature since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representing the Philippines, I worked with the other delegates to make demands to governments and corporations based on four themes: driving ambition; sustainable recovery; non-state actors’ engagement; and climate-conscious society.
Among the key calls made include: total phaseout of fossil fuels by 2030; urgent just transition to renewable energy; transparent and accountable climate finance systems; capacity-building and finance for youth involvement in climate policymaking; and climate change integration into education curriculum.
Truth be told, these are the same demands that the youth and other vulnerable sectors have been screaming to global leaders for decades. The urgency of responding to these demands, however, is rapidly growing by the day as inadequate action remains the norm. This is perfectly captured by the most recent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Read more in – LiCAS.news
