Welcome to discussion room 1!
A key success factor for raising ambition on climate is ensuring a youth-inclusive process. In this space, we invite you to discuss the role and significance of young people’s meaningful participation in climate action. We want to learn more about different ways of understanding and seeing youth meaningful participation. In this room, we also offer you a space to share actual stories and cases of youth meaningful participation in climate action. We want to inspire each other, understand what has worked and what has not, and unpack contexts and enabling factors. Thanks in advance for your real-world examples and stories!
To discuss the role of youth in the ongoing NDCs enhancement process, we invite you to introduce yourself and to offer your perspective.
Please respond below to any of the following questions, noting the question number in your response:
A) Defining youth meaningful participation
- How would you define youth meaningful participation in climate action and how is this definition already present (or rather missing) in your current working context?
- Where do current/mainstreams ideas, definitions and approaches to youth meaningful participation in climate action fall short?
- How can topics of intersectionality, human rights, gender equality and inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized youth, be meaningfully included in youth participation in climate action?
- In which arenas and levels/scales of participation can youth successfully influence climate action (e.g. at grassroots level, in collaboration with local governments or other non-state actors, in collaboration with the government, or in UN climate talks or other international fora?) Why?
- In which phase of the climate policy-making do you see youth participation being most effective (e.g. planning, implementation, monitoring, accountability)? Why?
B) Cases to learn from:
- Can you share inspiring examples or practices of successful youth participation in climate action (from grassroots level to NDC enhancement)? What were key factors of success?
- How were vulnerable and marginalized youth and intersectionality addressed? How did this work link with the promotion of a human rights-based approach? Did this experience include a gender-based approach?
- How did youth narratives and practices contribute to a more just and ambitious agenda/policy content or help connect climate action with other relevant sustainable development goals, e.g. biodiversity, sustainable cities, etc.?
- What concrete support provided by United Nations system and/or governments and/or other local or international actors was important for the success of your story?
- What do you see as key barriers/challenges for youth meaningful participation in climate action? How can these be overcome?
- Are there useful tools or methods you would like to recommend, in order to enable meaningful youth participation in climate action?
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Week Four Summary
This past week, we received excellent comments from young people and colleagues in Sudan, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
Razan noted the importance of including the most marginalized and vulnerable young people at all levels and building partnerships with institutions and governments.
Alberto identified critical barriers:
Alberto also offered successful examples of youth participation in climate action, including the use of renewable energy sources through community micro-hydroelectric plants - a model of comprehensive sustainable development with a strong youth participation component in the Dominican Republic.
Danae noted that young people in the Global South are consulted for some environmental issues, but with regard to decision-making processes, in which their ideas and experience can enrich and strengthen public policies on environmental or climate matters, the level of their involvement is very low. Danae also highlighted the importance of intergenerational equity and climate justice, along with removing barriers for young people to attend international negotiations and meetings.
An example was given of the Caribbean Youth Movement against Climate Change (CLIC!). The purpose of the movement was to create a space for collaboration and youth participation for the LAC region. Created in 2013, CLIC! promotes participation of youth of the region in international spaces and in the context of the UNFCCC climate change negotiations.
With regards to NDCs, CLIC! developed a project focused on the NDCs and is working with UNFCCC program on education as part of the NDCs to be launched in LAC.
Palmira shared the process young people have started with the Mexican government on the NDC process and to make climate a priority in the country. Palmira also noted that it is important to build capacity and help young people understand the politics and diplomacy around climate change.
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On behalf of the facilitation team, we would like to thank you all so much for this exciting four-week dialogue! This certainly would not have been possible without each of you. We are reviewing all of your helpful and thoughtful ideas, lessons, recommendations, and stories. We will analyze the contributions to inform the first guidance toolkit for UNDP practitioners on Youth & NDCs. We share the main findings from the consultation soon.
Thank you again and look forward to continuing the discussion moving forward!
Sincerely,
Sameera and Rebecca