The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), through the support of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom, has launched the 2021 Caribbean Youth for Climate Action Project and is inviting young people from across the Caribbean to let their voices be heard on climate change by completing an anonymous survey at www.cyen.org/survey
CYEN Executive Coordinator Reginald Burke explains that the intended purpose of the project is to facilitate an opportunity for as many Caribbean youth as possible to become actively engaged on climate change issues; by preparing them to effectively participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – Conference of the Parties (COP26); which is slated to take place in Glasgow from 1 – 12 November 2021.
By completing the survey, CYEN will be able to capture the views of young Caribbean citizens to help empower them in developing advocacy tools for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) #13 which calls for collective action on climate change that will inform political and development leaders of the Caribbean about the concerns of youth on the possible future impacts that the decisions being made today will have on their lives.
It is important to note that the global climate change negotiating process that officially occurs at each COP is rather complex, and generally, in order to influence the negotiations, the views of vulnerable and marginalized groups such as youth, women, the differently-abled, indigenous people and others must be captured and articulated at the national level.
As such, the Youth for Climate Action project aims to create an intervention point where the perspectives and concerns for youth from across the Caribbean region will effectively inform the climate change process.
In addition to the survey, CYEN will also be hosting a Caribbean Conference of Youth Webinar to be announced at a later date that will bring young people together to consider and review the findings of the research and lay a foundation for the drafting of a CARICOM youth statement on climate change.
To learn more, visit www.cyen.org or contact Reginald Burke at 1 (246) 231-7263 or via E-mail:executivecoordinator@cyen.org
Take the survey –> www.cyen.org/survey
