We are grateful to the GEF for sharing this, and to Carlos Manuel Rodriguez for leading the conversation, as he has always done:

Creating space for young people to affect climate policy

In a recent conversation at his home, GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez heard from members of the Youth and Climate Change Network of Costa Rica about how the climate emergency is impacting young people. International relations student Judith Pereira Vásquez, sustainable development engineering student Dereck Diaz Cortés, and political advocacy coordinator and cartography professional Noelia Molina Montero shared their fears, hopes, and plans for the future.

Here is a transcript of their discussion:

CARLOS MANUEL

I was in Morocco recently. It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and they are suffering one of the most intense heat waves in the history of planet Earth. Seven days in the month of July broke the record for the hottest average temperatures on the planet in the last 100,000 years. And I experienced for the first time what it is like to be at 42 degrees Celsius. I was truly shocked. I understood that at 42 degrees it is impossible to live, it is impossible to develop economic activities. It is one thing to read it and another to live it.

What do you as young people in a network that works to promote climate action feel about the way the world is going now? What is missing from climate initiatives? And what are the messages that policymakers and businesspeople need to hear so they can make decisions that will help us mitigate and adapt to climate change?

JUDITH

We are in an extremely complex situation at the international level. You of all people know that. Climate change is already here. Extreme weather events are increasing, and we face so many challenges in our efforts to mitigate it, especially as young people.

We are not only excluded from discussions and barred from actively taking part in decisions, but we also have no avenues for action – we have no spaces. We have had to create our own spaces because we have not been given that opportunity. But we are also trying to gain access to the decision-making spaces, to see how we can have an impact.

And in the meantime, we continue to struggle with the climate crisis, with what our communities and our countries are experiencing, and we do not see the conversation moving in the right direction.

We see there are efforts being made and that gives us hope to a certain extent – the fact there are countries and people trying to change things. Still, we need to increase climate ambition. We need to speed up the talks because the crisis is already underway.

DERECK

We would like to call on political leaders to address the climate crisis and to include the world’s youth in a more meaningful and participatory way in high-level negotiations – in state meetings and in decision-making spaces – in a way that addresses climate justice, where people, ecosystems, and human rights are placed at the center, and where youth plays an important role.

NOELIA

My colleagues have already touched on a very important issue, which is the need for young people to use this political space, for us to be heard.

I also think it is very important to emphasize that climate change affects everyone in very different ways, depending on where they live. There are regions in our country that are much more affected, with reduced access to water, which affects food, cultivation.

This results in the country’s youth having to migrate to look for economic opportunities so they can help their families and look for ways to solve these issues. This is how migration becomes ‘climate migration.’ That is a fundamental issue that must be addressed by both national and local governments, and young people should be included in these local government spaces.

Read the entire transcript here.