CLIMATE ACTION AND ADVOCACY

While the accelerating deterioration of the global environment has its most profound effect on children and young people, environmentally aware and empowered children and adolescents are potentially the greatest agents of change for the long-term protection and stewardship of the earth. More than 46 per cent of the world’s population is now younger than 25 years old – 3 billion individuals in all.19 The decisions they make can and will shape the future of our world. The next 10 years are crucial, and they offer an amazing window of opportunity. Young people’s knowledge of water, environment and health is a largely untapped resource. They are the next generation of water users and environmental stewards in households and communities. The capacity of these young people to live in harmony with nature and to manage and maintain local water, air and land resources effectively is absolutely vital. Community-based monitoring and advocacy activities in selected countries have begun to create opportunities for young people to participate in actions that reduce the incidence of water-related disease and deforestation, as well as clean up degraded community environments and watershed areas to improve living conditions for themselves and their families. Children’s participation in these activities has succeeded in raising awareness about their role as agents of change. But experience tells us that more must be done to infl uence the opinion of adults so they regard children as partners in a shared mission. Based on the premise that what children learn today will shape the world tomorrow, instilling environmental awareness at a young age is an effective way to protect the environment. Programmes that improve the availability and quality of environmental education are key interventions for long-term change. While schools – and especially primary schools – are ideal platforms for increasing children’s environmental knowledge, the most effective learning programmes go beyond schools and into local communities. But increasing children’s and young people’s environmental awareness is not enough. For them to become effective agents of change, avenues must exist for their knowledge to be translated into advocacy and action. Programmes that promote children’s participation in local environmental initiatives, that strengthen children’s clubs and networks, and that provide a voice for children in local, national and global development processes are always to help realize the potential of children to shape their own world. To this end, the UN Environment Programme and UNICEF are developing an Environmental Education Resource Pack for Child-Friendly Schools, which will offer comprehensive solutions designed to empower children. The Pack will support risk-mitigation efforts and disaster risk reduction and promote an understanding of one’s physical surroundings, self-image, health and capacity to learn. Protecting the environment while providing for the health and development of children are mutually inclusive goals. Almost any action taken to enhance environmental quality also helps to meet the basic needs and rights of children.