Towards a ClimDev–Africa Youth Platform on climate change

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 22 January 2015 – (ClimDev-Africa) – Some 15 youth from across the five regions of Africa are meeting in Addis Ababa to lay the groundwork for a platform to promote youth involvement in seeking solutions to the problems that climate change poses to Africa’s development.

The three-day brainstorming session is convened by the Climate for Development (ClimDev–Africa) Programme, which is a consortium of the three leading development institutions in Africa: the United Nations Economic Commission, the African Development Bank, and the African Union Commission.

According to Dr. Fatima Denton, Director of the Special Initiatives Division at the ECA, and convener of the meeting, the expected outcome of the encounter is the establishment of a ClimDev–Africa Youth Platform whose role will be to develop tailored programmes and training sessions that give the youth appropriate skill sets to increase their participation in addressing regional climate change challenges.

The proposed platform will not only establish youth databases, hotlines and helpdesks to deliver national climate response services upon request, but also design effective climate change adaptation and mitigation projects, through locally funded activities, including special projects for youth, youth education and competitions.

Climate change impacts pose some of the greatest challenges to Africa’s development, and if they are not properly managed, they could create an immense problem of equity by fostering a sense of injustice among today’s young and future generations who stand to inherit the full burden of climate change impacts, even though they were barely responsibility for them.

Hence, the position of ClimDev-Africa Programme is that climate change solutions must be framed in a manner that outlines short, medium and long-term solutions which cater for present and future risks.

The programme would like to have as many African youth as possible to engage with the initiative. They can reach the secretariat of ClimDev-Africa via acpc@uneca.org

Issued by the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa)