EVERY CHILD HAS an inalienable right to safety, water, food, shelter and education; but the fundamental impacts of climate change directly threaten the rights of children.
In our experience, working on the ground in some of the world’s most challenging and vulnerable places, climate change is the greatest threat facing the well-being of the world’s children. It is vital that children’s voices be included in dialogue and decision-making, at all levels, around climate change.
This year, the Government of Ireland has shown leadership in this area – facilitating participation at COP28 for three children: Edward, 13, from Tanzania; Selestina, 16, from Malawi; and Nomin, 17 from Mongolia.
These children are actively engaged in climate discussions in their communities, demanding that their community leaders and governments take their needs and opinions into account as they address the impacts of climate change.
There is also evidence of a growing respect for children’s inclusion here in Ireland, where local government is starting to listen and take on board the inputs of young people. The current draft of the Galway County Council’s Draft Climate Action Plan 2024-2029 highlights that the Youth Climate Assembly, convened by SAUTI Youth Project (a joint World Vision Ireland/Tanzania founded initiative) and Youth Work Ireland Galway, was effective in gathering inputs from children and young people.
I hope that other local authorities can learn from that approach and do likewise.
We have all seen the increasing attention paid to the role of young people within climate change spaces, particularly around climate activism.
Personally, I am concerned that children feel that they are forced to go on strike from school to try to have their voices heard on critical climate change issues that are vital to their future. Wider fora must be opened up to children, where they can have meaningful input into climate-related decision-making at every level.
Leaders must understand that they cannot continue to pay lip service to children, wring their hands about the state of the planet for future generations, whilst at the same time failing to act.
Children make up 33% of the global population. They must be part of the conversation. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “climate-driven food insecurity and supply instability… are projected to increase with increasing global warming.” With a record-breaking 258 million people classified as food insecure in 2022, we can ill afford for it to get worse. This is one of the many reasons the world is focusing on COP28 and calling on leaders for more ambitious climate action. We must see actions and commitments that keep the Paris Climate Agreement goal alive, of holding the global average temperature to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
While the focus is on an ambitious outcome from COP28, the way we conduct these discussions is equally important. Posting on X (formerly Twitter) at the start of COP28 Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), called for #COP28 to be the COP of solutions: “To achieve this, it is important that youth voices are heard — and taken seriously. The wisdom of young people can guide those who make decisions, as it is young people who will live with the consequences of these decisions.”
#COP28 must be the COP of solutions.
— Simon Stiell (@simonstiell) November 27, 2023
To achieve this it is important that youth voices are heard - and taken seriously.
The wisdom of young people can guide those who make decisions.
As it is young people who will live with the consequences of these decisions.#COY18 pic.twitter.com/yLZvC2KIjl
Not a surprising or unreasonable ask, you might say. Indeed, child participation is a key right and a core principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It states that children and young people have the right to express their opinions freely. Leaders have a duty to listen to children’s views and to help them take part in any activity that matters to them.
Earlier this year, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change. In the General Comment they noted “The obligation to fulfill rights requires that States combat negative societal attitudes to children’s right to be heard and to facilitate their meaningful participation in environmental decision-making.”
In responding to climate change, we must ensure that children and young people’s right to participate is upheld. We must use the opportunity to empower girls and boys to meaningfully participate in local, national and global climate change discussions and decision-making processes, and listen to what they say.
Governments and Member States should strengthen and/or establish institutional arrangements and mechanisms for child participation and ensure that the most vulnerable children are included.
Gillian Barnett is CEO of World Vision Ireland, which is a support office of World Vision, the world’s largest child-focused humanitarian and development organisation.
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