COP27 made history with the first-ever Youth-led Climate Forum, Children and Youth Pavilion at COP and Youth Envoy in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on November 10, 2022.
Ensuring that the voices of the young and future generation are heard is one of the key areas of focus of the COP27 Presidency, and the COP27 Youth and Future Generation Day sought to ensure that young people be part of the conversation.
The day kicked-off with an opening ceremony of the thematic day and youth-led climate forum, which brought together high-level policymakers with young representatives from the Conference of the Youth (COY17) to present the Global Youth Statement and underline the key policy asks compiled by the world’s youth for inclusion in the COP27 discussions and outcomes and drive climate ambition and implementation. Opening ceremony was attended by Ashraf Sobhy Minister of Youth and Sports of Egypt, Dr Yasmin Fouad Minister of Environment of Egypt, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Steill, High Level Climate Champion Mahmoud Mohie Eldin and senior representatives of the COP27 Presidency Team.
Youth represented their key demands that paid specific attention to: Action for Climate Empowerment, Adaptation and Resilience and Accessible Finance that were determined during COY17 which convened over 1,000 young people from more than 140 countries before the official opening of COP27, and following several rich local, national and regional conferences of youth.
“The impacts of climate change have significant effects on the health, nutrition, education and the future of young people, meanwhile youth stands to be the most impacted by the decisions we take at the climate process. Thus, they should be considered a natural ally and partner in driving climate action,” said COP27 President H.E. Sameh Shoukry during his recent visit to the Children and Youth Pavillion. “Ensuring that the youth are represented and have a seat at the table is of absolute importance as it is their future lives and livelihoods that are directly impacted with the implementation of climate commitments” H.E. Shoukry added.
The COP27 Presidency has previously announced a number of steps pursuant to its commitment to ensuring the voices of youth and future generations are included by hosting the first ever Children and Youth Pavilion at a COP, the introduction of a Youth Envoy to the process, supporting COY17, launching the 1st ever Youth led-climate forum and aiming at removing some of the barriers that normally affect meaningful participation of young people at COPs.
Several sessions on Youth and Future Generation Day were programmed around providing an intergenerational platform for direct interaction between policymakers and representatives of the generation who will see the long-term effects of those policies in action decades from now.
The COP27 Youth and Future Generation Day also helped to widen the narrative around Africa as a hub of opportunities and innovative solutions and highlighted how youth are collaboratively driving action and change, including climate justice and intergenerational equity.
Through discussions throughout the day, challenges were highlighted creating a focus on what needs to be done to elevate the work led by youth to adapt to the climate crisis and enhance their potential in mitigating it.
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