Government officials and other decision-makers will meet next month to set the agenda for the next United Nations climate change conference, COP29, in November. As with each world conference in this series dating back nearly 30 years, we must once again confront how international climate negotiations exclude young people from decision-making about their future.
Youth: excluded from climate and peace policy
Coverage of the final day of last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) featured footage of demonstrations led by young people. These activists recognized that while young voices may be excluded from formal negotiations, their images in the final hours of decision-making will be visible around the world.
Young people have grown up facing the enormous direct and indirect impacts of the climate crisis. One billion children live in countries at “extremely high risk” of worsening heatwaves, cyclones, water scarcity, lead pollution and other environmental threats, according to UNICEF research. Of the world's 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24, nearly 90% live in developing or conflict-affected countries, where climate change is undermining the ability of societies to maintain peace. . Young people (those who participate in these discussions usually include those under 30) bear not only the effects of climate change today, but also the psychological burden of the deterioration of our planet.
With almost half of the world's population under the age of 30, young people are a force to be reckoned with in decision-making. Far beyond a few world-famous figures such as Sweden's Greta Thunberg and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai, young climate leaders are actively working at local, regional and global levels. I am. They include Hassan Yassin, a Somali activist who co-founded a youth-led environmental group, and Shamma Al Mazroui, a government minister and special envoy for climate change in the United Arab Emirates. Youth participation in decision-making can build trust in institutions, advance innovative ideas and shape sustainable solutions to build stability, security and resilience around the world. . As global surveys show a loss of trust in our social institutions, It is important to attract young people It's about avoiding the most dire risks of runaway climate change, including polarized societies, misinformation, and the rise of authoritarian movements.
For decades, international conferences and government policy councils that have guided the world's inadequate response to climate change have either ignored young people or not made them active and legitimate participants in policy-making. It has treated young people as passive victims of climate shocks and conflicts. Even when powerful organizations include young people in such decision-making forums, they often do so simply to: appear Responsive — a practice activists call “youth washing.” Only 1% of multilateral climate fund projects contributing to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement involve young people under the age of 18 in program implementation; They often lack the funding, resources, leadership, and platform to make an impact. .
How young people can lead positive change
Young people face political, resource and financial barriers, yet they are forging their own paths towards change. Across Somalia, erratic flooding and drought threaten agriculture and economic development, sparking migration and conflict over scarce resources. With more than 70% of Somalis under the age of 30, youth civil society organizations and leaders like Hassan Yassin face these climate impacts. Still, Yassin stressed, “We need Somali youth at the decision-making table in negotiations.” Yassin co-founded the Somalia Greenpeace Association in 2019 to combat the threat of climate change and promote sustainable and equitable development. Yassin's organization has successfully educated local communities about climate change and advocated for the Somali government to create a ministry solely focused on climate change and environmental issues.
Young people are policy innovators. At the recent World Climate Conference, young leaders created the Global Youth Climate Statement, incorporating ideas from his 700,000 young people in 150 countries. The document recommends urgent priorities to improve the world's still inadequate response to climate change and the worsening of violent conflict and other human security challenges. The recommendations focus on five key areas including equity, conflict prevention, displacement, peacebuilding and diplomacy. Young people also have special insight into climate, peace and security risks in their own backyard and are sharing ideas with security institutions such as NATO on how to better address climate change.
Three opportunities for American leadership
The United States can and should take advantage of three opportunities to move beyond youth cleansing and foster genuine youth engagement on the critical issues of climate, peace, and security. These options are:
Including young people as part of the U.S. negotiating team on the Paris Agreement. National negotiating teams are the primary driving force behind global climate policymaking, and the United States needs to learn from countries and institutions that are already integrating young people into policymaking. Last year, the United Arab Emirates hosted the world conference COP28 and nominated 100 youth for the first-ever International Youth Climate Delegation Programme. Emirates has also institutionalized the role of an International Youth Envoy within its leadership to implement the world's major climate treaty, the 30-year-old United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. YOUNGO, the United Nations youth-led constituency on climate, provides young leaders with networks and resources such as the Climate, Peace and Security Working Group. Another UN initiative is equipping young people with negotiation and leadership skills and networking resources to serve as effective climate change negotiators. The New Generations Program, supported by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, supports young negotiators from countries such as the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Fiji, Argentina, Malaysia and Tunisia who have served as negotiators for their national delegations. The United States can follow this example and demonstrate its commitment to substantively involving young people in determining the future of the world's climate.
Support youth work on climate, peace and security as a form of public diplomacy and peacebuilding. As young people are increasingly exposed to climate change, their security priorities are shifting to maintaining a livable planet. According to a Pew Research survey, 46% of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States list climate change as a top security priority, the highest of any age group. These trends are also reflected in America's allies around the world. The keen focus on climate among those most at risk is reflected in a NATO poll that placed climate change in the top three security concerns among citizens of member countries. ing. South Pacific defense ministers from Australia, New Zealand, Chile, France, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga have long identified climate change as the “single greatest threat” to their national security. Around the world, people who feel powerless against climate loss, especially young people, are at risk of despair, distrust of institutions, and even radicalization. Therefore, U.S. public diplomacy and peacebuilding should support genuine youth engagement on climate change, including a cohort of young leaders committed to climate security.
Honoring global climate financing efforts and leveraging U.S. influence in international organizations such as the World Bank to prioritize funding for youth-led projects. Young activists increasingly criticize countries like the United States for failing to deliver on promises to fund efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change on communities most affected by it. It looks like this. Multilateral funding to combat climate change and its devastation remains inadequate overall, and in particular undersupports the essential contributions of young people. As an example, an analysis from 2007 to 2023 found that only 2.4 percent of projects explicitly considered youth under 18 in their implementation or objectives, and identified young people as agents of positive change. Only 4% of projects are The United States can change this by using the influence of multilateral funds and development banks to support the innovation of young people and the communities they represent. It can also maintain bilateral funding to further the same goals.
Elsa Baron is a Research Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security, an arm of the Strategic Risk Council.
Photo: Primarily young activists demand better action on climate change at the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow. Young people are essential to building political will to limit climate change, but they are excluded from global policy-making. (Andrew Testa/New York Times)
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors.
