COP27: Youth-NREG Calls for Effective Engagement & Participation of Young People to build resilience Against Climate Change

COP27: Youth-NREG Calls for Effective Engagement & Participation of Young People to build resilience Against Climate Chang

Story by: Ishmael Barfi

As World leaders gather in Egypt for the commencement of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) to deliberate on  issues affecting their respective countries with regards to climate change, young people are calling for effective engagement and participation to speed up the numerous programmes aimed to build a resilience against climate change.

According to the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) platform, young people suffer from the increasing impacts of climate change which is hindering their development and wellbeing though they are the generation that stand between the older generation and children.

“The inactions of our leaders today will be a great burden to the future of young people. Nonetheless, young people have the skills, energy and talents, which with the appropriate support can make them change agents by taking up initiatives and contribute to the fight against climate change as well as create opportunities for youth development”, the platform reiterated.

COP27 is an annual gathering of world leaders, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other relevant stakeholders in the climate change space to deliberate on relevant issues that are of great importance in the resilience against climate change.

Though momentum is building, the commitment and action gap is still significant that, it is of urgency for nations to work together to tackle climate action, with public and private sector, civil society and development partners through significant dialogue and partnerships.

The call was made at a press conference during the just ended National Pre-COP27 Youth Summit held in Accra on the 27^th October,2022.

The Pre-COP27 National Youth Summit organised by Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND), the Convener of the Youth-NREG was to give young people a platform to discuss issues hindering their effective involvement in the realization of numerous climate change policies and programmes.

And as well as showcase the works of young people in the climate change space who are contributing to the course of attaining the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to climate change.

In July 2022, the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) being the Convener of the Youth-NREG Platform as well as been recognized as a key actor by both state and non-state actors from the youth perspective in Ghana’s climate change interventions commenced a Road to COP27 Monthly Webinar series to demonstrate the pro-activeness and willingness of young people to make their voices heard in the climate change discourse.

And based on the key issues from the series of the webinars, the platform is calling on world leaders attending this year COP27 to first and foremost establish a Loss and Damage Finance Facility with substantial financing annually from the Global North to highly vulnerable countries that are facing mass destruction as a result of the climate crisis.

Secondly, the platform indicated that, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Adaptation Gap report, the annual adaptation costs in developing countries alone are estimated at USD70 billion.

“This figure is expected to reach USD140-300 billion in 2030 and USD280-500 billion in 2050,  therefore an increase in financing will be critical for countries to meet their adaptation goals”. It noted.

Adding that, “On this score, we are calling on leaders from the Global North to fulfill their pledges in the Glasgow Climate Pact to increase funding for climate adaptation especially for climate vulnerable countries”.

To attain the above, the platform emphasized on the need to increase support for young people to participate in Global Climate Change discourse.

To that effect, the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) acknowledged countries like Ghana for implementing some of the outcomes of the Glasgow Work Programme on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) by commencing various youth negotiators programs.

And to ensure the sustainability of these implementation, the platform called for more support in terms of financial and capacity resources to ensure young people particularly from the global south are not left out of the global climate change discourse like the COP and other Subsidiary body meetings.

The rest of the key issues are acceleration of the global energy transition, thus decisions made at COP27 must address the social, geographical and economic injustices surrounding the global energy transition conversation.

“Leaders from the global north must be held accountable for going back to issuing new deals on fossil fuel exploration after all the pledges made at COP26”, it lamented.

Indicating that, “A clear roadmap of how least emitting yet highly vulnerable countries can transition to depend only on clean energy sources for development, needs to be discussed and adopted”.

And for the above to be achieved, the Youth-NREG called on world leaders to ensure they act on all the “beautiful and juicy” pledges that will be made at COP27, therefore more action than words

“Leaders must ensure the effective implementation of their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) because real action we believe begins at the local level. World leaders must listen to the climate projections and take urgent action”, the platform advocated.

Background:

SYND is a youth-oriented NGO that promotes youth inclusion in the governance of the Natural Resources and Environmental (NRE) Sector. It also convenes the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) platform established in 2019 through the support of the World Bank and UNDP-Ghana.

The platform seeks to:

1. Create space for knowledge learning and sharing among members on environmental actions &
2. Provide the opportunity for members to embark on joint advocacy in a concerted manner.

And the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) platform is a heterogeneous group of young people working on the various thematic areas of the Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) sector such as Climate Change, Energy, Biodiversity, Forestry, Oil & Gas, Fisheries, Water & Sanitation, Mining and Land.

Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com