Background
As the youth movement continues to grow in the US and abroad, there is an increasing need for coordination, cooperation, and peer-to-peer education. In the last few years (largely following an increased youth presence at COP 6 and WSSD), there has been a growing youth presence at United Nations Conferences, including the Commission on Social Development, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the various conferences on MDGs, and the General Assembly.
The youth presence at these conferences began as an observation experience, mostly in the academic sphere, with youth coming from universities and reporting back to classes. However, as the presence has grown, institutional knowledge has been collected and youth have become more empowered to advocate, rather than simply observe. As more and more young people wish to voice their concern “as the generation that will live with the consequences of the decisions made today,” there is a need to bring those people together to create a unified voice and a clear, simple, strategic platform to increase the effectiveness of our influence.
This concept was put into practice leading up the most recent UN Conference on Climate Change in Montreal. The Quebec group ENvironment JEUneusse organized the “International Youth Summit” on global warming, bringing 75 international youth. Young people learned from each other and create the “International Youth Declaration” on climate change. This declaration included general concepts and specific recommendations. The declaration provided a vehicle around which young people could rally. It was endorsed by dozens of international organizations, and at the conference at itself, was adopted by the International Municipal Leaders Summit organized by ICLEI and was mentioned in the opening and closing addresses by the head of the conference.
However, the benefit for the conference extended to the grassroots level too. The relationships built at the conference have already facilitated better youth collaboration (this proposal being a prime example). Bridging the gap in the youth community is an incredible challenge given the lack of resources, limited experience, and the simple fact that the oldest and most experience youth eventually cease to become youth. Conferences such as the Youth Energy Blast not only build relationships between individuals. They encourage and support ongoing partnerships between organizations.
It is essential to continue this international collaboration, and what better venue than the Commission on Sustainable Development, which brings all spheres together. The Blast hopes to build off the success of the Montreal meeting because the theme of the CSD this year is “energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution and climate change.”
Click here to learn more.
To Register for the Youth Energy Blast, go to www.youthcaucus.net/blast/register