Youth Climate Movement - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Youth Climate Movement or International Youth Climate Movement (IYCM) refers to an international network of youth organisations that collectively aims to inspire, empower and mobilise a generational movement of young people to take positive action on climate change.

Formation

Since the Rio Earth Summitt

Earth Summit

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, Earth Summit was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.-Overview:...

in 1992, individual youth have been participating in international negotiations related to different environmental and sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

issues. With the formation of the European Youth Forum

European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum is the platform of the national youth councils and international non-governmental youth organisations in Europe...

in 1996, and the U.S. youth organization SustainUS

SustainUS

SustainUS is a non-profit, nonpartisan, youth-led advocacy group in the United States. Its goal is to improve youth participation and youth empowerment as it relates to advancing sustainable development...

in 2001, youth-run organizations began to send delegations of youth to actively participation in these various worldwide negotiations, principally through the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

. Individual youth had been participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...

, and with the new level of youth organization participation in international negotiations, youth organizations began to identify the UN climate negotiations as a new forum to increase youth participation in.

From November 28 to December 9, 2005, the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Convention (COP 11 or COP/MOP 1) took place at the Palais des congrès de Montréal

Palais des congrès de Montréal

The Palais des congrès de Montréal is a convention center located in the Quartier international de Montréal at the north end of Old Montreal in Montreal's borough of Ville-Marie....

in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Youth delegations from member nations, including the United States (via SustainUS

SustainUS

), Canada, and Australia, attended, to advocate on behalf of young people. As a result, the concept of the International Youth Climate Movement was first developed, though it was originally referred to as the International Youth Delegation, referring to the youth delegates at the international climate negotiations.

Following on from this in September 2006, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition

Canadian Youth Climate Coalition

The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition is a non for profit youth organisation in Canada. The coalition consists of various youth organisations, which includes the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Labour Congress The charity aims to politically prioritize climate change as an important...

was launched, consisting of 48 youth organisations from across the nation. This was soon followed by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Australian Youth Climate Coalition

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a youth organisation in Australia. The coalition consists of 25 other youth organisations, which includes the National Union of Students amongst many...

in November, which itself was a coalition of 27 youth organisations from across Australia.

In March 2008, the Indian Youth Climate Network

Indian Youth Climate Network

The Indian Youth Climate Network refers to an youth organizations in India that aims to raise the voice of Indian youth on the global platform as South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions affected by potentially catastrophic climate change & environment issues.IYCN members work to generate...

joined the Global Youth Climate Movement whilst in June 2008, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

ambassadors to the World Wide Fund for Nature

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

's Voyage for the Future programme, Emma Biermann and Casper ter Kuile, created the UK Youth Climate Coalition

UK Youth Climate Coalition

The UK Youth Climate Coalition is a grass-roots, non-profit youth organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation is run entirely by unpaid volunteers, who are all under the ages of 25....

(UKYCC), after returning from the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

to witness the impact of climate change. More recently, coalitions in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Pacific Islands

Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....

and South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

have been established with the same mission statement as the International Youth Climate Movement.

Structure

Across the world, there are youth organisations who have formed coalitions to take positive action on climate change, such as the UK Youth Climate Coalition, which are led entirely by a team of young people. Each Climate Coalition or Climate Network is affiliated to a regional or continental movement. These movements include the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change; Caribbean Youth Environmental Network; European Youth Climate Movement; Project Survival Pacific; Nordic Youth Climate Action Movement; North East Asia Youth Environmental Network; the South American Youth Climate Coalition and the South Asia Youth Environment Network. Consequently, these local, national and continental organisations come together to form the International Youth Climate Movement.

Governance

The International Youth Climate Movement, although an umbrella term for the movements of young people taking place across the world, is run by teams of volunteers. These teams of volunteers organise themselves into different working groups and form the central organs of the movement, coordinated by a "Bottomlining Team" that helps to organize their efforts, especially at international climate negotiations.

Funding

The movement is funded by contributions from its member organisations, as well as occasional contributions from organizations like UNICEF and the government of the Netherlands.

Members

National members of the Youth Climate Movement include: the AYLCF Climate Action Network (France); Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Australian Youth Climate Coalition

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a youth organisation in Australia. The coalition consists of 25 other youth organisations, which includes the National Union of Students amongst many...

; Canadian Youth Climate Coalition

Canadian Youth Climate Coalition

; China Youth Climate Action Network; ECO Singapore; Energy Action Coalition

Energy Action Coalition

The Energy Action Coalition is a North American non-profit organization made up of 50 partner organizations in the U.S. and Canada that runs campaigns to build the youth and student clean energy movement and advocate for tangible changes on local, state, national and international levels in North...

(U.S.A.), headed by coalition organization SustainUS

SustainUS

; Project Survival Pacific, Ghana National Youth Coalition on Climate Change; Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition; Indian Youth Climate Network

Indian Youth Climate Network

; Japan Youth Ecology League; Malaysian Youth Climate Justice Network; Nature and Youth Denmark; New Zealand Youth Delegation; Nigerian Youth Green Coalition on Climate Change; Russian Youth Climate Movement; Bangladesh Youth Movement for Climate (BYMC); and the UK Youth Climate Coalition.

Campaigns

Alongside the national campaigns undertaken by the domestic coalitions and domestic networks, such as the Power Shift

Power Shift

For the book by Alvin Toffler, see Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. For the driving technique, see Powershifting....

conferences, the International Youth also undertake their own global campaigns, which are coordinated by a team of young volunteers.

Conference of Youth

Th first Conference of Youth was held in 2005, in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada

Canada

, shortly before the Eleventh Conference of Parties. The event brings together youth delegates for sharing resources, training, networking and collective discussions. It is also an opportunity for the youth climate movement to plan their activities over the course of the negotiations and the subsequent year.

The fifth Conference of Youth took place at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

from the 4-6 December 2009 where over 700 young people from 100 countries are reported to have attended.. The sixth was held at the Universidad del Caribe in preparation for the Cancun climate negotiations.

The two or three day event takes place annually, and it is scheduled each year to be held shortly before the United Nations Conference of Parties, where nations convene to assess the progress of the climate negotiations.

Participation to the UNFCCC negotiation process

Since 2005, each domestic coalition or network within the Youth Climate Movement has sent a delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) to represent young people in their respective country.

In June 2009, the youth organisations participating in the United Nations climate change negotiations submitted an application to become a constituency. In August 2009, the constituency application was provisionally approved by the climate change Secretariat, making youth the 7th constituency to join the climate negotiations. The official title for the youth participation to the climate negotiations is 'YOUNGO'. The maiden focal points for the YOUNGO elected were Wilson Ang (Singapore), sponsored by SustainUS

SustainUS

, and Lina Li (China), sponsored by 350.org

350.org

350.org is an international environmental organization, headed by author Bill McKibben, with the goal of building a global grassroots movement to raise awareness of anthropogenic climate change, to confront climate change denial, and to cut emissions of one of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide,...

, representing the International Youth Climate Movement in an official capacity (despite the provisional status until 2011).

Currently, the elected focal points who represent the International Youth Climate Movement are Lauren Nutter (U.S.A.). sponsored by SustainUS

SustainUS

, and Jean Paul Brice Affana (Cameroon), sponsored by Jeunes Volontaires pour l'Environnement. They follow 2009-2010 Focal Points, Sébastien Duyck (France), sponsored by Service Civil International

Service Civil International

Service Civil International is an international non-governmental voluntary service organisation and peace movement with 43 branches and groups worldwide...

and Rishikesh Ram Bhandary (Nepal), sponsored by SustainUS

SustainUS

.

Throughout the year, there are other opportunities for the members of the International Youth Climate Movement to convene. For example, at the International Youth Summit on Energy and Climate Change in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China

China

Think 2050 Campaign

In 2009, the UK Youth Climate Coalition

UK Youth Climate Coalition

The UK Youth Climate Coalition is a grass-roots, non-profit youth organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation is run entirely by unpaid volunteers, who are all under the ages of 25....

worked with the Youth Movement, in particular the European Youth Climate Movement and SustainUS

SustainUS

to launch the "How old will you be in 2050?" campaign at the United Nations

United Nations

Climate negotiations taking place in Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The slogan has been used by the Youth Movement since then and was also the focus for the International Youth "Young and Future Generations Day" in December 2009. The campaign seeks to emphasise the need to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 on 1990 levels, as young people will be the ones to inherit this world and decisions made today will have a direct impact on their lives in 40 years time.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Formation

Structure

Governance

Funding

Members

Campaigns

Conference of Youth

Participation to the UNFCCC negotiation process

Think 2050 Campaign

See also

External links