Introduction

Youth play an important role in acting toward intergenerational justice, equity, and resilience, especially in the face of widespread climate change that threatens their future. However, youth face a number of challenges in engaging with climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, including a lack of awareness and access to relevant institutions and processes, youth inclusion in policies and plans, and knowledge and capacities.

It is vital to engage youth in the formulation of policies and plans at local, national, and global level, including Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement seek to reduce the impacts of climate change by enabling society including youth as a whole to be part of the solution through education and training for a climate resilient and low-emission future. As such, youth are represented in UNFCCC negotiations and other UN events related to climate change through YOUNGO, the official Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC.

Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) is a term adopted by the UNFCCC to denote work under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement that sets out an overarching goal to empower society including youth to engage in climate action through education, training, public participation, public awareness, public access to information, and international cooperation. In addition to the opportunities for countries to integrate the six elements of ACE in the NDC revision process, countries should ensure that youth are included as a key stakeholder in the NAP process by following the guidance provided by the NAP Technical Guidelines regarding climate change education and training.

The engagement and empowerment of youth in climate action at a local, national, and global level as well as in the United Nations Climate Change process and at all decision-making levels to address climate-related vulnerabilities and become climate champions is necessary and should be supported and encouraged.

The Global Youth Forum on Climate Change

The Global Youth Forum on Climate Change (GYFCC) was first organized in 2016 by SLYCAN Trust in partnership with the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka under the Sri Lanka Next programme as well as other national and international partners.

The Global Youth Forum has fostered increasing youth participation and focuses on sharing knowledge on key climate change issues, providing a platform for youth to propose ideas on climate action and research, and supporting youth to develop and improve project proposals through capacity-building and networking.

In 2020, the Global Youth Forum on Climate Change will be held from December 16th to 18th, with a Sri Lankan local-language pre-event taking place from December 14th to 15th. The Forum will include partners and collaborators from national ministries, international and local think tanks, CSOs, NGOs, and research institutions.

The goal of the Global Youth Forum 2020 is to provide a platform for young climate activists, leaders, youth organizations, and stakeholders to speak on and discuss issues and the way forward for climate change action as well as ongoing national and international climate discussions.

‍It focuses on four main thematic areas:
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In addition to these main thematic areas, the Forum has five cross-cutting issues that will receive special attention across all areas, including just transition, participation and inclusion, education and capacity-building, means of implementation, and just recovery.

Key Focus Areas

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  Just transition in the energy sector
  - Key elements to ensure just transition in the energy sector
  - Gaps and challenges faced in integrating aspects and strategies of just transition in the energy sector
  - Institutional structures and role of actors in achieving just transition in the energy sector
  - Entry points and opportunities for integrating just transition into climate policy initiatives and actions
  - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives

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  Ensuring just transition in the food sector
  - Key elements of just transition and their relation to global and local food systems
  - Gaps and challenges faced in integrating aspects and strategies of just transition in the food sector
  - Institutional structures and role of actors in achieving just transition in the food sector
  - Entry points and opportunities for integrating just transition into climate policy initiatives and actions
  - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives

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  Gender, inclusion, social protection, and cross-cutting aspects related to just transition
  - Key cross-cutting aspects related to just transition
  - Interlinks for integration of just transition with climate action and into different climate policy and action processes
  - Impacts of COVID-19 and the role of recovery actions in contributing toward just transition
  - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives