UAE: Youth Climate Leaders Express Their Aspirations At The Abu Dhabi Pre-COP Event
Category: UAE Local News
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This year marked a significant milestone as a youth delegation of climate leaders participated in the Pre-COP event for the first time, allowing them to express their hopes and demands.

During the Abu Dhabi conference, which served as the crucial final climate ministerial gathering before COP28, youth representatives and COP28 Youth Climate Champion, Shamma Al Mazrui, engaged in discussions regarding the Global Youth Statement (GYS). The GYS is a central youth advocacy document for the UN Climate Change Conference. The high-level roundtable on youth ambitions, led by Al Mazrui, included participants from various programs such as YOUNGO (the youth constituency of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), Unicef advocates, the COP International Youth Climate Delegates Programme (IYCDP), and the UAE Youth Delegate Programme. The IYCDP, in particular, is bringing 100 young individuals from communities severely impacted by climate change and underrepresented in discussions at COP. Notably, Al Mazrui, who also serves as the Minister of Community Development, holds the unique position of being the first-ever Youth Climate Champion with a ministerial role. The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, also attended this event.

Al Mazrui highlighted that over the past year, the Youth Climate Champion has actively engaged with young people from around the world to ensure that their voices are fully integrated into the entire COP28 process. 

The COP28 Presidency is dedicated to achieving an unprecedented level of youth and children's inclusion in international UN climate change negotiations. We have been diligently working on a series of initiatives to provide comprehensive support to youth at every stage of the COP process."

During the event, YOUNGO representatives presented their recommendations to Al Mazrui, discussing various key thematic areas outlined in the Global Youth Statement (GYS). The GYS is a representative policy document generated annually through consensus among youth from over 150 countries. It aggregates the demands, insights, expectations, and policy proposals of young individuals, youth organizations, and institutions.

The GYS results from extensive policy consultations conducted by YOUNGO and the integration of policy statements from local and regional Conferences of Youth held in collaboration with youth organizations in 110 countries. These inputs have been synthesized to articulate clear climate policy demands across the COP28 negotiation tracks and beyond. These demands cover areas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, finance, energy, loss and damage, and climate justice. The GYS advocates for an inclusive approach to climate governance that recognizes the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on the Global South and vulnerable communities, including youth, and underscores the need for systemic and radical action.

In a significant change from previous COPs, the condensed demands of the GYS were presented during the Pre-COP stage rather than mid-COP. This condensed version is in UN-aligned language, enabling parties and negotiators to work with a more actionable document earlier in the process. This change aims to enhance the effectiveness of incorporating youth requests into the negotiation process, highlighting the COP28 Presidency's commitment to transparency and open dialogue. Youth and children are actively involved in major climate policy discussions throughout the year.

The YOUNGO policy team emphasized, "We have presented the condensed policy demands of thousands of young people who were engaged in the process within the Global Youth Statement. We urge parties to take action based on these demands during their negotiations at COP28, as they provide practical and comprehensive proposals that can be implemented at the negotiation table and from a local perspective for parties. We appreciate the emphasis on youth participation by the Presidency, but for this engagement to be meaningful, they need to be integrated into the COP's final outcomes.

31 Oct, 2023 0 216
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