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Climate and education professionals discuss how to lay the foundations for an effective and impactful way forward on climate action
“Our world is only shared if we share it,” noted one of the speakers of the most recent Designs on the Future webinar, “How Can We Move from Climate Crisis to Climate Justice?”, in which some of the most urgent issues around climate change were discussed.
Tuan Anh Khong, Coordinator of the Climate Change Working Group at World Wildlife Fund, Vietnam; Anja Nielsen, Senior Policy Adviser, Education and Youth at the UK Committee, UNICEF; and Luis Camargo, Founder and Director of OpEPA, Colombia led the discussion, which placed a strong focus on the representation and participation of young and marginalized people at the recent COP26, and their importance in helping to shape a more equitable climate action plan for the future.
The importance of understanding the historic responsibilities that laid the foundations for the current climate crisis was a key point made by all three speakers.
“The countries most affected by climate change are those least responsible for it,” stated Nielsen, who highlighted that the nations ranking in the top ten on UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index were responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse emissions.
With such stark statistics, it is time to realize the historic responsibility of inaction, commented Camargo, as such history “helps us understand the collective responsibility of today,” added Khong.
This inaction has, however, galvanized young people who see the desperate need for action, and there is positive hope that this younger generation is “on the verge of enacting incredible exponential action.”
COP26 was a hugely topical theme in the discussion, having concluded in Glasgow just five days earlier, and the presence of young people at the conference underscored much of the discourse.
Their inclusion in the critical conversations around climate solutions and a more equitable and just world was hugely important. “Young people put climate education on the table at COP26,” observed Nielsen. It was important that young people were there, as their contributions help to “understand children’s lives now, to be able to write policy that understands how their future will be impacted”.
Generational systems of structure have “dismissed children’s views” and this needs to evolve rapidly to give space to youth, said Camargo. “Children bring wisdom,” he added.
Representation is not enough though. “Young people need to be at the table, have the power, and not just be there,” said Khong.
How can the youth of today be empowered to enact the change necessary to move us from climate crisis to climate justice?
Skills are needed, around creative thinking and problem solving, as well as knowledge of their own rights, observed Nielsen, specifically referring to Article 42 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child and a child’s right to know its rights.
“If you know your rights, you can claim your rights,” she said. “Knowing all of your rights can support and enable young people to then have another tool, to talk about the importance of climate action, climate justice and climate solidarity”.
Empowering children in this way, and others, will be the key to any potential success in limiting the climate crisis. “Hope is the basis of all action. It comes not from talking, but from learning how to act,” said Camargo. “Educating children on how to listen more deeply, to other people and to earth and nature.”
Designs on the Future is an online initiative to mark the 75th anniversary of Salzburg Global Seminar and to highlight bold visions and perspectives that can inspire change and help create a more creative, just, and sustainable future. To join our next Designs on the Future webinar, sign up to the Salzburg Global newsletter: www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/subscribe