Preamble
Today, we the Youth are united in our call for
urgent action on the trans-national crisis of climate change. Together we
represent the global constituency of young people, determined to preserve the integrity of our
Earth for all lifeforms, for the generations to follow, and for the sake of our own survival. In
order to protect our most fundamental right to an inhabitable, healthy environment, it is
imperative that we have multi-dimensional cooperation. We must mobilise and transform our hope in
order to transcend borders and immerse ourselves in action. This requires cooperation
that may be the first of its kind -- harmony on a personal, local, national, and
international level.
Today, in response to the deadlock, ignorance,
and inaction of past generations in addressing the climate change crisis created by our
species, we, the YOUTH declare a global, social, and ecological state of
emergency.
You
member states - have the power to enact the broad sweeping changes we so desperately need. We the Youth - are watching our Earth burn and
witnessing the promise of a future diminish before our very own eyes. We have
the time you failed to use. However, our time to act is limited.
Together,
we can change the course of history by using our power for good, by amplifying
the voice of science, by
abandoning “business-as-usual”, and by taking a stand for our planet.
Alongside
biodiversity collapse, denial of human rights, dramatic levels of pollution,
rising inequalities, and
resource shortages, Climate Change will be a determining factor of planetary evolution for decades to
come.
And
in this crisis, with no exceptions, the least responsible will bear the
heaviest burdens. We
therefore urge you to address the rising complexities of the world you
have built through adhering
to the goals set forth by the Sustainable Development agenda and by
governing with compassion
for those of us who will soon inherit these grand challenges.
We
call on Heads of States to acknowledge and act in accordance with the most
accurate science,
particularly the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, the recent
IPCC Land Report, and the upcoming IPCC report
on the oceans and cryosphere. We urge you to take immediate actions in line
with the prevention of global temperature rise of 1.5°C and achievement of the long-term
goals of the Paris Agreement.
We the
global youth, call upon our member
states to : Economic, Political, and Social Drivers
●
Establish compulsory solution-oriented climate change curricula throughout educational institutions, equipping young
people with the knowledge and skills to adequately tackle the climate
crisis;
●
Urge the international community to build a framework forbinding
environmental legislation that
defends human rights, maintains ecosystem integrity, holds corporations accountable and
balances conflicts-of-interests;
● Secure the rights of young and future
generations, by strengthening future-oriented and long term policies.
Intergenerational equity must be infused throughout the entire democratic, policy and legislative
process.
● Acknowledge that women are disproportionately
impacted by the effects of climate
change and enact gender responsive, ambitious climate policies. We
demand member states to ensure
just transition policies and plans to protect workers of non-sustainable industries, by offering
alternatives and defending their rights. We demand to follow an intersectional and inclusive
approach to social justice, that simultaneously considers gender with other social factors,
such as age, religion, class, caste, disability and ethnicity; ● Shift towards a
circular economy to reduce the damage caused by our current unsustainable economic system.
This will drive a reduction in CO2 emissions caused by long distance transportation,
overpackaging, growth of out-of-season food, and will broaden localized job opportunities;
●
Adopt participatory, bottom-up and inclusive approaches to engage citizens and
civil society organisations in
policy-making and projects at all social and political levels, allowing them to take ownership as
stakeholders. Frontline communities and grassroot groups should be especially included
in this multi-actor social dialogue;
●
Demand the establishment of robust and equitable governance of research
and deployment of solar
radiation management;
Youth and Public Mobilisation
●
Create a sustained and transparent dialogue - at all levels - between youth and
decision makers so that our
ideas are both heard and implemented. Appoint youth chairs from a diverse array of backgrounds to
deliver intergenerational input on policies;
●
Ensure that people with all levels of education are able to participate in
climate decision making by
increasing public access to important key events, especially for
historically underserved
communities, vulnerable populations, and Indigenous peoples;
●
Support initiatives to amplify the youth’s voice in their respective
communities, to cultivate
leadership capacities, and enhance communication of youth across the globe
in order to foster the form of
collaboration that is imperative in addressing global crises; ● Strongly
support and strengthen the existing institutions that support formal and
institutional participation of young people in climate change processes, more
specifically the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) within UNFCCC, while
extending modalities such as the Action for Empowerment (ACE) dialogue to
different structures of the society.
Industry Transition &
Accountability
● Recognize that the technology industry
contributes significantly to the production of Greenhouse Gases, and thus
incentivise low-tech solutions and sustainable technology that can be repurposed and have a
longer life span to reduce the need for annual developments;
● Increase commitments to combat the climate
crisis by enhancing incentivization for eco-friendly industries, reducing
taxes on foreign goods that are eco-friendly
prioritizing carbon positive
programs, and ascribing scores and accreditation systems for industries acting in accordance with
encouraging a societal shift as stipulated in the Development Pathway 4
outlined in the IPCC findings;
● Respond to the urgency which we must
address the agricultural and fishing industries’ detrimental impact on the
environment by shifting towards sustainable, less intensive forms of agriculture such as
agroecology, while as reducing quotas, fishing grounds, limiting the use of oversized
fishing vessels and destructive trawling methods;
●
Identify the need to engage in the principle of just transition especially in
consideration of developing
economies. We express particular concern over the importance of assisting developing economies both
financially and by providing resources in the form of material and subject experts to
assist developing economies in an
industry shift;
Infrastructures, Cities, and Local
Action
● Establish localized plans for future
infrastructure, aligning with the SDGs and surpassing the Paris Agreement,
passing necessary laws and regulations to ensure compliance;
● Affirm the principle that cities - both
existing and future - should strive to be smart, self-sufficient and resilient
in terms of energy, water, goods, and waste; ● Allocate ⅓ of the urban space in
each city for green space through the planting of street trees, creation of parks, community gardens,
green roofs, urban agriculture and other innovative solutions, while prioritizing
indigenous species over imported plants, and edibles over ornamentals;
● Remedy the stark inequities in harmful
environmental exposure on communities of low socioeconomic status through
careful monitoring of noncommunicable disease indicators and ensure environmental
health for all;
● Prohibit the destruction of existing
agricultural and forested lands in order to reduce land use and land artificialisation;
●
Transition public mobility systems to renewable energy-based vehicles while
improving safety and access for
cyclists and pedestrians;
Resilience and Adaptation
●
Establish an international fund to tackle health risks and humanitarian crises
resulting from climate change
which directly and fully supports populations that are most at risk;
●
Adopt a common and universal definition of climate security that will enable a
coherent, effective and
comprehensive response to the human and ecological security implications of climate change impacts;
●
Build a resilient society, inspired by Nature’s adaptive skills and ecosystem
services through honoring,
celebrating, and recognizing the importance of traditional, local, and indigenous knowledge;
● Develop an amendment to the 1951 convention
on the status of refugees to include climate refugees under the
definition for the term “refugee” in order to protect those forced to flee their member
states due to the climate crisis;
●
Establish funding and reallocation programs to provide those who will lose their
jobs as a result of the
climate crisis with alternative employment;
●
Developed revised concrete National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) that recognize
young people as stakeholders and implementers (not just a vulnerable group) of
adaptation action during 2020, with a focus on youth efforts while including
capacity support for young people.
● Scale up their commitments to the Adaptation
Fund.
Climate Finance and Carbon Pricing
●
Acknowledge the historic responsibility that developed member states have had
in contributing to climate
change and under the Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) concept, issuing grant-based
funding equivalent to the scale of the climate crisis “developed” member states must increase
their commitments to the Green Climate Fund to meet the $100 Billion goal while
ensuring that these commitments are tracked to guarantee that nations are
providing funds in a timely manner;
● Establish a mechanism where young people can
easily access funding instruments for
implementing grassroot level projects but also larger projects like COY
or LCOYs;
●
Ensure that climate finance is gender-inclusive, protects workers and
communities impacted by climate
change, puts in place urgent measures to address displacement and migration due to climate change,
and builds resilience of the vulnerable through addressing issues of poverty,
inequality and justice;
●
Build a constructive dialogue on the blue economy and it’s interlinkage with
loss and damage in order to
find innovative financing mechanisms such as green bonds as a means to invest in rehabilitation projects
within communities experiencing climate imposed disasters;
●
Strengthen accountability and monitoring mechanisms on climate funding to
ensure progress, as well as
steering committees including local youth constituents;
●
Strengthen carbon pricing to make it economically viable for local communities realizing that the current carbon prices are
too low to provide incentives for local action against climate change;
Mitigation
●
Develop effective and carbon neutral land, air and water transportation systems
by setting stringent targets to be
achieved by 2050;
●
Hold maritime vessels accountable for damages done to oceans and seas;
● Intensify and promote research, innovation
and utilization of methods involving
mitigation strategies.
● Allocate specific funds to developing member
states for their own research programs;
Energy Transition
●
Promote and support technology transfer and development of environmentally sustainable technologies through
adequate investment and tax subsidies for renewable energy;
●
Aim to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2040 for developed member states and
2045 for other member states
and channel investment towards cleaner energy;
●
Facilitate the development of enterprises in all sectors related to the energy
transition including training
programs for professional growth in this sector;
●
End subsidies for fossil fuels and industrial-scale bioenergy, and reject
any unsustainable and
extractive industries which put short-term gain over the wellbeing of people and nature;
Nature-based solutions
● Demand for Nature-based solutions to be
efficiently implemented, the protection of our environment and the reversal of
damage caused to it being a sine qua non condition;
● Understand that Nature-Based solutions are
essential to create a sustainable long-term economic system which is beneficial
to both human-kind and biodiversity and incentivize innovation in the field
of sustainability and socially and ecologically just trade to create global communities
●
Commit to biodiversity and ecosystem protection, valuation of ecosystem
services, and the restoration
and rewilding of biodiverse ecosystems;
● Appreciate the indispensable role of local
and indigenous communities in the protection and proliferation of our
biodiversity;
●
Commit to a global transition to ensure sustainable and just agricultural
systems based on principles
of agroecology, good Agriculture Practice, Permaculture, Climate Smart Agriculture, Organic farming or any
other practices that minimize the use of fossil fuel based machinery, hazardous
chemicals, and which empower communities and improve resilience to climate impacts by
breaking the barriers of Intellectual Property Rights and Corporate Hegemony over food
and seed systems;
We,
the collective Youth Voice, speak as one for the wellbeing of all. We stand
firm in our resolve towards addressing the Climate Change crisis through the imperative course of action as
detailed above in the demands of the
global youth constituency.
We
are holding you accountable for your actions. We are watching. We will not relent until we catalyze and witness the
necessary changes for sustaining life on
this planet. We have no choice but to carry this torch onward
and it is our sincere hope that you will join us as intergenerational partners in fighting for our
future.
Christophe CIRUMIRA.
