Climate: when young people speak out

He will be present at the "COP 22" to be held in Marrakech in November. For David Resillas, representative of a UM student association and Youngo[1] delegate, the voice of the world's youth needs to be better heard in climate negotiations.
It's the next annual conference on climate change: the "COP22" will be held from November 7 to 18, 2016 in Marrakech, under the aegis of the United Nations. But before this major event, there was an intermediate stage: pre-COP22, which was held until May 26 in Bonn (Germany). The main objective of this "intersessional" meeting was to work on implementing the Paris Agreement. Among the "climate negotiators" present in Bonn was David Resillas, 25, mandated by the Youngo movement.[1] and member of the REFEDD Board of Directors[2]. This IAE Montpellier student is also the co-founder of EDDA.[3]a student association at the University of Montpellier.

What was at stake at the Bonn meeting?

Maintain the momentum of COP21, stay the course, make it clear. The Paris climate agreement has been adopted by 195 countries, and the ratification process is underway: France has just ratified the Paris treaty. In Bonn, the parallel task was to ensure that promises were kept, to set the roadmap, and also to exchange views on new issues that may have arisen. At this major forum, where various coalitions and lobbying groups made their voices heard, the Youngo organization came to express the views of youth associations from all over the world, around two main themes: education and intergenerational equity.

What is the message from the young people of Youngo?

My generation is going to be hard hit by climate change. The effects of global warming are already here, and they're going to get worse. If we don't take action to reduce, adapt and raise awareness, it will be up to us to manage the crisis! This generation is therefore a programmed victim, yet it still has no say in the matter. We are the bearers of concrete and innovative proposals, and we want to be better heard: people my age have new ideas to put forward. Today's decision-makers are highly qualified, but their logic of action remains much the same as it was 50 years ago. We need a paradigm shift: sustainable development is the main instrument for overcoming the climate crisis. A culture to which my generation is very sensitive.

How do you hope to influence the negotiations?

Young people are still largely under-represented in the debates. But the General Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is fully aware that young people have something valuable to contribute to meeting these global challenges: their creativity, their energy, their passion. YOUNGO* delegates, including myself, are here to make the voice of youth heard. We're not professionals, we're students, with a background in associations. We are not bound by any professional constraints or economic stakes. This is our strength: our voice carries all the more weight.

What are your next concrete actions?

This will mainly involve developing the program of national youth delegates to the UN. This program is already in place, but needs to be better structured. The first mission of these young delegates is to meet the young people of their countries: to raise their awareness, encourage them to become more actively involved, and take careful note of their expectations and the projects they express. We are going to propose that these young delegates be integrated into the negotiating teams, and be able to influence the debates thanks to a right to vote. We need to convince the UN. But we also need to convince Member States: involvement in the youth delegate program is still very uneven from one country to another.

Reference

• Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 represent around 18% of the world's current population, the largest cohort of young people in history.
• The text adopted on December 12, 2015 (Paris agreements) aims to keep the rise in global temperature below 2°C by the end of the century.

 
[ 1] Youngo brings together youth organizations from around the world within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC (the UN body responsible for climate negotiations).
[ 2 ] REFEDD is a network of student associations working on sustainable development projects in areas such as food, biodiversity, climate, waste, etc. REFEDD is an association under the French law of 1901.
[ 3] Etudiants pour un Développement Durable Associatif.