SPOTLIGHT
Everything that I do, I’m doing for communities. I am doing it for them to be resilient. I’m doing it so that they can have resilient livelihoods.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Kombo’s initiative set up 10,000 saplings in a tree nursery, harvesting indigenous seeds. Working closely with the community, they also set up kitchen gardens and gave trainings on sustainable farming and land conservation to improve agricultural practices. Wrapping up her Sharm El-Sheikh podcast, Abigael Kima shared her thoughts about her experience at COP27. One of her deepest impressions was the youth engagement: “The fact that we had a lot of young people across the globe coming together, building solidarity and collaborations, fighting for climate justice,” she said. Moreover, she emphasizes the importance of the Youth and Children Pavilion in the heart of COP27’s pavilion area: “The Blue Zone is where all the action happens. So actually having young people in the Blue Zone with a space where they can interact, be creative, collaborate, was such a beautiful experience and it really inspired me to keep going because you see just how hard young people are working and are aware that climate change is affecting them and they’re doing something about it.”
Patricia Kombo, youth climate activist, Kenya
FROM ADOLESCENTS TO ADVOCATES
This year’s climate conference was a milestone for young people. They became official stakeholders in climate policy under the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). Under the work program adopted at COP26 in Glasgow 2021, the four-year ACE action plan sets out short-term, clear and time-bound activities with the overarching goal to empower all members of society, including children and youth, to engage in climate action. ACE breaks down into six elements: climate change education and public awareness,
training, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these issues. Hailey Campbell, ACE spokesperson for the Children and Youth Pavilion at COP27 and Care About Climate co-executive director, took part in the negotiations.“The youth power of COP27! After 20+ hours of negotiations and 10+ hours of bilateral discussions, my team, YOUNGO, secured official recognition of youth stakeholders in “designing and implementing climate policies” in the ACE Action Plan (Article 12 of the Paris Agreement)!” she wrote in a November 12 tweet. Young people’s voices will now be much more impactful when it comes to the design and implementation of climate policies. “Official recognition as stakeholders in the ACE Action Plan gives young people the international backing we need to demand our formal inclusion in climate decision-making and implementation,” Campbell said. The worldwide mobilization of young people illustrates the power they possess in holding decision-makers to account. They are agents of change and innovators. Youth everywhere are scaling-up their efforts and using their voices to accelerate climate action. The world’s role is to listen and give them a seat at the table. As Patricia Espinosa, the former Executive Secretary of the UN climate change body UNFCCC, said in an interview, young people are “really the key to address climate change.”
Recognition in the ACE Action Plan gives young people the international backing we need to demand our formal inclusion in climate decision-making and implementation.
Hailey Campbell, ACE spokesperson for the Children and Youth Pavilion at COP27 and Care About Climate Co-Executive Director
PHOTO: UNFCCC
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