Children and youth voice their concerns about climate change

“Children are the most vulnerable if we talk about the consequences of climate change,” says Kamala, 18, a World Vision sponsored child from a far western rural village of Nepal and a participant in the in National Youth conference on Climate Change. She adds, “The conference has given us a platform to learn from each other and understand new methods being adopted to adapt to climate change.”

Damodar, a president of district child club network and a former sponsored child of World Vision shares, “Climate change impacts the children as much as the environment as we are the future so it is an important issue for us.”

The 8th International Climate Change Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) was held in Kathmandu from 24 - 30 April 2014.  As a side event, hundreds of children and youth from various parts of the country came together with the support of World Vision, Plan, Save the Children and UNICEF to attend a national youth conference on climate change from 27-29 April. They shared their experiences on climate change and raised disaster risk issues to come up with a declaration.

The declaration was shared with the executive secretary of UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres who also addressed the children and youth. The declaration will be disseminated widely to influence at various levels so that youth and children’s participation is ensured for any decision that affects them the most.

Climate change impacts the children as much as the environment as we are the future so it is an important issue for us.

World Vision International Nepal’s Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Manager, Surendra Dhakal says, “Any decision we make today affect the children and youth the most. We have to include them in every decision we make or every action we take. With a view to provide children and youth a sharing and hearing platform about the changing climate and its impact, mitigation measures and adaptation methods, World Vision as a Child Centered Disaster Risk Reduction consortium member, supported this national event.”

Kathmandu Declaration:

We hundred representatives from five development regions of Nepal assembled in Kathmandu to participate in the National Youth conference on Climate Change, parallel to CBA8, from 27 -29 April 2014.

Children and young people are concerned with the increasing threat posed by rising global carbon emissions and the changing climate. Many are already experiencing the impacts of the changing global environment in their communities.

Not only do young people have a right and a need to tackle climate change, they also have much to contribute. As they live and play in their communities they often gain unique insights into the local environment, its strengths, weaknesses, and the ways in which it is changing.

This is more so with the youth which represent the present and future of the country. Youth have both special concerns & responsibilities in relation to the environment and will have to live longer with the consequences of current environmental decisions than their elders. So, children and youth engagement is a priority for us. Realizing this gap and urgency, Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) has come up with collective voice of youth. And we urge to ensure following agendas of the youth:

1. Encourage the effective empowerment, engagement and mobilization of youth and youth network to spread knowledge of climate change and its impact to local people.
2. Promote dialogue with youth and their participation in decision making process in the areas of Environment and Sustainable Development at all levels (Local, Regional, National and International)
3. Focus on mitigation and adaptation through knowledge sharing, technology/eco friendly technology transfer, and financial investment.
4. We encourage the Government of Nepal, civil society organizations and global negotiators to include youth and activists in decision making process related to climate change at local, national and international level.
5. Encourage research and long-term monitoring regarding environmental issues such as Climate Change, Food security, Disaster Resilience, Biodiversity Conservation, Water and Energy demands and urge for effective implementation of Climate Policy, NAPA and LAPA document.
6. We encourage good governance in each and every organization who are working on environmental issues. We urge for proper information dissemination on Climate fund in Nepal.
7. We are on a planet which has a problem caused by us, human beings, and we want a rectifiable decision now. If not it will be the biggest failure of your generation, there’s no point in waiting or hesitating, we want climate justices any way.
8. We urge for proper and transparent disbursement of 80% budget, allocated by government of Nepal guided by Climate Policy and National Adaptation Program of Action.
9. Living in clean environment is the right of each and every citizen; we urge the government for proper fulfillment of guided rule and regulations guided by interim constitution 2063.
10. We urge for each and every organization, industry and factory for fulfillment of criteria guided  by ISO 14001:2008
11. Let us not forget the agenda of climate change in our new constituent assembly