Fountain Of Youth

Photo: UNFCCC

Amidst the maze of the more than 100 pavilions in COP27’s UN-managed Blue Zone, one in particular stood out: the first-ever Children and Youth Pavilion to be hosted at the UN’s annual climate change conference. 

The space was filled with positive energy, but most importantly, a demand for change and action from the people who will have to live with the consequences. It provided a place for discussion, education and creativity to amplify the voices of young people and drive action on global climate policies vital for securing a livable future. 

As the conference in Sharm El- Sheikh progressed, 33-year-old Indian artist Shilo Shiv Suleman hand-painted a mural outside the pavilion with a brief, but direct message: “Fearless”. Suleman founded the Fearless Collective movement, which creates public art interventions with women and underrepresented communities across the world. This is exactly what youth globally represents: a group of bold and determined young individuals taking their future into their own hands. 

Suleman’s mural portrays three young women who are finding purpose in a time of crisis and are using their voices to inspire others to act. The painting depicts larger-than-life figures whose work is itself larger-than-life: Puyr Tembé, a campaigner from the Amazon for indigenous tribes, Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate and Pakistani environmentalist Ayisha Siddiqa, the co-founder of Fossil Free University, a training course for climate activists, and Polluters Out, a global coalition for the protection of indigenous lands. 

“This mural is a testament to the fearless activists from the Global South who are calling for reparations and resurgence at the frontline to world leaders that look at the earth as a commodity,” wrote the Fearless Collective on their Instagram channel. 

Just as the painting represents the variety of people in the fight against climate change, so does young people’s involvement in climate advocacy. “We are activists and students and policy makers and commentators and youth reps,” reads a sign inside the pavilion. From young children, well-known climate activists, students and volunteers, to young business owners and employees, youth from all over the world are stepping up and demanding change to secure a livable future for generations to come. 

Gaining a Louder Voice 

Abigael Kima was among the hundreds of young climate activists who gathered at COP27. She is the founder and producer of the Hali Hewa Podcast (the Swahili term for “climate”), which profiles African experts and activists to amplify local and regional “Land Hero” stories of the climate crisis. 

“I was so inspired by the young people who were present at COP listening to the stories of how they are impacting lives in their community,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. During the climate conference, Kima published a daily “The COP27 Sharm El-Sheikh Series” podcast episode, interviewing people from across the globe on issues that matter to them as negotiations progress. 

One of these interviewees was Patricia Kombo, a youth climate activist from Kenya. She is best known for her tree-planting initiatives as part of her non-profit PaTree Initiative, which aims to attain 10 percent forest cover in Kenya by involving school pupils in tree planting and conservation efforts. 

“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,” said Kombo, explaining her motivation. 

For her work, she was named a “Hero” by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in a campaign to distinguish “incredible young men and women who fight climate change through land conservation and restoration and mobilize communities, schools and families to join the action on the ground.” 

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.” 

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.”