Exploring the effects of Climate Change on young people
“International Development and the Realities of Climate Change,” the inaugural event of the Cambridge Hub Lent Series, took place on Wednesday 26th January at Clare College, Cambridge. The series is designed to facilitate students’ engagement with ‘key social, environmental and development issues.’ The Hub’s look at climate change included an informative presentation by Jazmin Burgess of UNICEF UK, and impassioned calls to action by young climate campaigners Daisy Haywood and Amy Mount.
Jazmin Burgess, Climate Change Policy and Research Officer at UNICEF UK, opened the discussion by explaining the many ways in which children are vulnerable to the devastating consequences of climate change. Temperature, climate and precipitation change lead to changes in ecosystems, more frequent natural disasters and increased water stress and flooding. These, in turn, lead to child mortality and endangerment, both directly—through death and injury caused by natural disasters—and indirectly—through increased incidence of diseases and decline in food security and resources. Reduced agricultural yields may cause children to leave school to work to supplement their family’s income—or even be separated from their families, recruited as child soldiers as unrest erupts over limited resources.
Children stand in the flood waters of the Shabelle River as heavy rain continues to fall. © UNICEF / Radhika Chalasani
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UNICEF UK is working to combat the negative effects of climate change on young people. The NGO provides ‘on the ground’ support for vulnerable populations, such as rainwater harvesting projects. They provide education to prepare young people for emergencies, including swimming lessons for children in areas of the Philippines subject to unprecedented flooding. Research, policy, and advocacy work is influencing the ways in which governments respond to the crisis of climate change. For example, a campaign to enact a Robin Hood Tax on the financial sector could raise 20 billion pounds per year to help developing countries adapt to climate change, thus protecting children who are most vulnerable to its effects.
While climate change has a strong impact on young people, they are also playing an important role in the fight against it. This was demonstrated by the final two speakers at the event, Daisy Haywood and Amy Mount.
Daisy Haywood is a member of the Youth Advisory Panel for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and one of UNICEF’s young climate campaigners. Her work with UNICEF has brought her into contact with other young activists from all over the world, as well as with DECC ministers, scientists, and policy officials. But as a student at the University of Cambridge, and a member of Cambridge University International Development (CUID), she draws on her experience and passion to persuade young people in Cambridge to take action. “Young people have the right to be heard and the right to be listened to. We should also be really proud of what we have to say. We have creativity, determination, and passion that adults sometimes lose when they get older. WE can be our leaders.”
Amy Mount is a graduate of Cambridge University and is similarly devoted to fostering young people’s voices in the global debate on climate change. She has participated in UN Climate Change Conferences as a member of the UK Youth Delegation, and understands how slow and frustrating the process of realising change through policy can be. However, having been involved for several years, she has also seen the rewards of persistence. As a member of the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC), she successfully organised a petition to Downing Street to keep Chris Huhne in Cancun for the duration of the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Amy also showed how ‘youthful’ youth action can be; the UKYCC ended the 2010 youth “Power Shift” Conference on climate change with a flash mob dance party in Parliament Square.
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By Anne Radl ~ 31 January 2011
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Links
The Cambridge Hub Lent Series events take place every Wednesday at 7.30pm, in the Latimer Room at Clare College. To find out about upcoming events, visit http://cambridgehub.org/series
UNICEF: www.unicef.org.uk
‘UNICEF helps children affected by cholera in Haiti‘, 18 November 2010
Robin Hood Tax: www.robinhoodtax.org
UK Youth Climate Coalition: http://ukycc.org
‘impassioned calls for action by young climate campaigners’ ring alarm bells in my mind, and this later quote failed to dampen them:
“Young people have the right to be heard and the right to be listened to. We should also be really proud of what we have to say. We have creativity, determination, and passion that adults sometimes lose when they get older. WE can be our leaders.”
I suspect that young people need to earn any ‘right’ to be heard and listened to, and indeed especially if they wish to be ‘really proud of what we have to say’.
I hope they will direct their determinations to those who are at least as old as they are, and not seek to impose their views on far younger people, perhaps with a view to turning them into ‘little activists’. They surely would not want to see more of this: http://climatelessons.blogspot.com/2011/03/under-cloak-of-climate-change.html.
The UK Youth Climate Coalition said (via Facebook):
“We think everyone has the right to be listened to, but that young people currently don’t get enough of a voice in decision making to do with climate change. We are the ones who will live with the long-term consequences and might also have a fresh perspective on the issue.”
(See the comment at http://www.facebook.com/UKYCC)