Empowering Youth for Climate Action: A Call to Leadership and Sustainable Change

Young colleagues, present and future champions of the planet, the future leaders, Dear friends.  Welcome to this first-ever Youth Forum on the Montreal Protocol and Climate Protection. My great thanks and congratulations to the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP for organizing this event. And thanks to the distinguished speakers for joining us today. Last month in New York City, the United Nations held the Summit of the Future. Let us remember, that future is you, the children and youth of today but the leaders of tomorrow, the future. At the Summit, we issued a rallying call for the active, meaningful and inclusive participation of youth in decision-making. Why? Well, put simply, because you, the youth, will be the ones who will live with all the decisions taken today, for the planet. The implementation of these decisions will be on your shoulders. Let us look at this region where we are, the Asia-Pacific, we have approximately one billion youth aged between 10-24 years. That’s 60% of the world’s adolescents and young people. This is not a small number to ignore because if these young people were a country, they would be demanding a seat on the Security Council. Their demographic power would be the reason why they must be heard. But equally, is that young people can bring new ideas, perspectives, and a vital energy to decision-making processes including at multilateral level. They are often unburdened with a sense of how something has “always been done”. They are always more willing to try new innovative approaches. Just as one, Jamie Margolin said, “We have the power to change the narrative. Let’s rewrite the story of our planet and ensure that it’s a tale of resilience, sustainability, and hope”. These words resonate well with you the youth. Change the narrative for the better sustainable future and hope. And when it comes to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, we can all agree that the time for old and dormant ideas which have brought us to the crises we face, can no longer be a solution to the challenges faced and therefore, new, innovative and transformative approaches are needed.  In this region, Asia, we can see the consequences and impacts of inaction. This is already one of the most vulnerable regions when it comes to climate change, especially from extreme heat, flooding, sea level rise, and extreme weather events.