Earth Today | A case for fresh blood

IN THE race to build climate resilience, young people, and in particular those from the developing world, must be specifically targeted for engagement in advocacy and project and programme interventions.

This is according to regional stakeholders who have been involved in climate change advocacy and research over many years.

“Young people are critical to achieving climate resilience. Young people need to be included in the decision-making space, as decisions that we make about climate change today will significantly affect young people in the future,” maintains Dr Adelle Thomas, senior fellow of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at the University of The Bahamas and Caribbean science lead with Climate Analytics.

“Young people must be strong advocates for the need to think about the long-term impacts of the decisions that we make today,” she added.

Currently, Thomas said that there is room to make better use of young people in the climate change arena.

“I think that there is definitely room for improvement in including young people more holistically in climate action. Capacity building and involvement of young people is needed to ensure that there is mutual learning, and that our next generation is well prepared to advocate for our needs in the international arena, and also well prepared to lead at home,” she noted.

Her comments come against the background of concerns from among young people in the region who have complained of a lack of support to participate in the recent global climate talks, held in Glasgow, Scotland.

EMPOWER YOUTH FOR CLIMATE CHANGE WORK

Thomas, meanwhile, is not alone in her assessment of the need to more meaningfully engage Caribbean youth in climate change work. Jhannel Tomlinson, a long-time youth advocate, agreed.

“While efforts are being made across the Caribbean, there is a lot more to be done in engaging, empowering and involving youth,” she told The Gleaner.

“Oftentimes, youth are an afterthought and sometimes engaged only to ‘tick a box’. We need to ensure we engage youth as active stakeholders in the climate change space – from conceptualisation to execution of projects, plans and actions,” added Tomlinson, who has participated in the global climate talks on a number of occasions.

“We are also often seen as ‘too young’ to make useful contributions; however, youth are innovative, creative and have the skill sets to make meaningful contributions,” she said further.

Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, a years-long advocate for climate justice, said while some progress has been made, there is a definite need for more sustained efforts to make best use of young people in climate planning.

“I am happy to see that the Caribbean has made a concerted effort to involve young people in building climate resilience, both at the international level and locally. The Caribbean Youth Environment Network, for example, has been a staple at most UN talks for years. There is, however, more that can be done to make best use of the youth. For example, there is need for more sustained funding for them to raise awareness on climate issues, as well as for further studies in climate-related fields,” she said.

“More can also be done to mentor these young people as future climate negotiators and to ease some of the pressure on our long-standing, overwhelmed negotiators,” added Mclymont-Lafayette, who at one time spearheaded the work of Panos Caribbean in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Panos is among the regional non-governmental organisations that has made it its business to champion issues of climate change and the environment. The entity played a lead role in the ‘1.5 to Stay Alive’ campaign, which helped to influence the inclusion of that target in the 2015 historic Paris Agreement.

Caribbean stakeholders have long held that there is need to cap global temperature increases at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in order to help safeguard the islands’ survival in the face of climate change threats. Those threats, some of which are already being experienced, including extreme hurricane events and droughts; coastal erosion and the attendant loss of livelihoods in the area of fisheries and tourism; as well as freshwater and food security challenges.

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