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Since September 2008, the UNFCCC secretariat has been working together with United Nations agencies
and youth non-governmental organizations to empower children and young people to take action on
climate change through the United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate
Change.
The work of the Initiative is closely linked to the implementation of Article 6 of the
UNFCCC and in particular the implementation of the  Doha work programme on Article
6 of the Convention. It also draws guidance from the following policy instruments:
Its main areas of work are:
- Coordination of activities and sharing of information among participating entities
- Empowering children and young people to take action on climate change
For more information please e-mail us at youth (at) unfccc.int
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Recent and upcoming activities by members of the UN Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and
Climate Change
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
1. Climate Change guide for youth
This publication contains over 20 chapters covering various aspects of climate change from causes to action
on the ground.
2. Climate change and food security mini projects
In collaboration with WAGGGS, FAO is supporting climate change and food security mini projects where young
people learn about the topics and then develop projects in their local communities from school gardens,
tree planting to community energy efficiency initiatives.
3. Manuals on climate smart agriculture for junior farmer field schools
FAO with a number of partners is developing a series of manuals on climate smart agriculture and community
seed banks for junior farmer field schools and other relevant institutions. And is supporting projects
related to youth and climate change in countries such as Mexico, Cambodia as well as in the pacific region.
4. Youth portal
FAO is developing a youth portal with information for youth on e.g. agriculture, biodiversity, climate
change, forestry, fisheries, food and nutrition, and a special kids corner that will also include quizzes,
videos and games on these topics.
5. Challenge badges
FAO is developing with partners several challenge badges that focus on e.g. oceans, forestry, energy,
agriculture, nutrition (include a section on sustainable diets). These badges complement the biodiversity, food security and climate change
and water challenge badge, which FAO
published earlier.
For more information please refer to the FAO web page on Climate Change Children and Youth or contact Mr. Reuben
Sessa at Reuben.Sessa@fao.org
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
1. Tunza International Children & Youth Conferences
UNEP recognizes the impact of Climate Change on young people and places a great importance on the role
young people can play on the issue of climate change. In an effort to raise awareness, UNEP in
collaboration with the UNEP National Committee Korea organized the 2009 Tunza International Children and
Youth Conference. The daily themes included: Climate change and its effect on bio-diversity, Climate Change
and young people, Water and Sustainable lifestyle. The conference provided a unique opportunity for over
800 children and youth to share their views and concerns on climate change and resulted in a youth
statement which was presented at the December 2009 climate change meeting in Copenhagen.
In 2010, UNEP in cooperation with the Aichi Prefectural Government and the City of Nagoya, hosted a
Children’s Conference on the on Biodiversity to engage children around the world on biodiversity
issues. The Conference resulted in a children’s declaration on biodiversity, presented at COP10 in
Nagoya in October.
This year, UNEP in collaboration with the Indonesia Government organized another Tunza International
Children and Youth Conference which was held in Bandung Indonesia from 27 September to 1 October 2011 . The
Conference brought together 1,400 children and youth, to discuss their role and inputs to the upcoming
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development " Rio+20". Under the slogan ' Reshaping
Our future through A Green Economy and Sustainable Lifestyles'. The conference reviewed the
contribution of children and youth to the International Year of Forests and how they can adopt more
environment-friendly lifestyles. The conference themes were Rio + 20 (Green Economy) / Green Lifestyles,
Forests, Sustainable Consumption and State of the Global Environment from the youth perspective. The
Conference resulted in a declaration which contains an action plan on what the children will do to lobby
this document and their cause.
2. 2011 Global Youth Gathering
UNEP Tunza Youth Advisory Council met in Nairobi , during UNEP’s Biennial Governing Council Session
which was held in February 2011 to discuss youths perspective on Green Economy and road map to Rio + 20.
The meeting culminated in a Youth statement which was presented to the UNEP Governing Council.
3. International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment
The International Children’s Painting Competition has been held since 1991 and has attracted over 3
million paintings from over 190 countries. The Competition was initially organized by the Foundation for
Global Peace and Environment (FGPE) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and now includes
Bayer and Nikon as organizers.
In an effort to highlight Climate Change in schools, UNEP and partners organized International
Children’s painting competition on Climate Change. The focus of the 16th and 17th Competitions was
Climate Change. Winning paintings were exhibited at the Tromso Museum from 3 June to 30 September 2007. The
exhibition was hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment.
2011 marked the 20th edition of the International Children's Painting Competition. To celebrate the
UN's International Year of Forests in 2011, the theme of the painting competition was ‘Life in
the Forests. This year UNEP received 606,996 entries from 100 countries. The work has inspired people all
over the world to see the environment through the eyes of children. The Competition encourages children to
focus on a particular environmental issues and how these issues affect their communities. Its goal is to
increase environmental awareness and action among children.
4. Tunza Regional Activities: Global Climate Week
UNEP Tunza regional focal points assisted in coordinating the Global Climate Week where young people in the
UNEP Tunza network participated in peaceful walks and other activities in several countries to mark climate
week. They used the opportunity to share the youth statement and their views on climate change with
governments and communities. The activities took place from 21 to 25 September 2009. Some of the countries
include Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, India, the Gambia, Zambia, Kenya Nigeria,
Uganda (with the involvement of the honourable Minister of the Environment), South Africa, Mozambique,
Bahrain, Lebanon, Panama, the US and Canada.
In addition, UNEP Tunza launched a Seal the Deal! Buddy campaign. This was a one day campaign where Tunza
network members received an online buddy campaign flyer and sent the same flyer to at least 7 of their
friends encouraging them to sign the online climate petition. The aim of this campaign was to gather as
many signatures as possible and pressure governments to sign a fair, balanced and effective climate
agreement in Copenhagen.
5. Tunza Magazine
The UNEP Tunza magazine is one of the initiatives under the UNEP Tunza long term strategy on the
involvement and engagement of young people in environmental issues. The magazine is produced quarterly and
in three languages – English, French and Spanish. The magazine is distributed to young people around
the world and in 2011, four issues of Tunza magazine were produced. The issues include: Health & the
Environment, Forests, Marine Environment and Soil. Several issues in the past have focussed on climate
change and related subjects.
All Tunza issues are posted on http://www.unep.org/Publications/contents/Tunza.asp.
A new feature during the reporting period was the introduction of the Tunza mobile which allows young
people to access the magazine on their mobile phone. This has been a huge success and now registers several
thousand subscribers.
6. Children environmental series
UNEP published a children's environmental series and two out of the seven storybooks are on the theme
of climate change and on what children can do to mitigate the effects of climate change. The series is
hosted on the Tunza website http://unep.org/tunza/children/story_time.aspx.
7. UNEP/UNESCO YouthXchange guidebook on climate change and lifestyles
UNEP, in collaboration with UNESCO, launched a guide book on Climate Change and lifestyles aimed at young
people aged 15-24 as part of the YouthXchange Initiative. The guide book is a training kit, which seeks to
promote sustainable lifestyles through education, dialogue, awareness raising and capacity-building.
(www.youthxchange.net).
Upcoming UNEP Tunza activities:
1. UNEP ROA -Generation Earth Summit on the Environment
The UNEP Regional Office for Africa (ROA) and Generation Earth, a South African youth NGO, is organizing
the Tunza Generation Earth Summit / pre-COP 17 meeting in Johannesburg from 22 – 24 November 2011.
This Summit will bring together 40 youth from the Africa region to network and exchange ideas on how to
better care for the environment, mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to a sustainable
lifestyle. The Summit will also launch the Africa youth agenda on the road to RIO +20. The Summit will
offer interactive workshops, thought- provoking discussions, field trips, and will culminate in a youth
statement on climate change to be presented to the UN COP17. It is planned that 20 youth from the Summit
will proceed to the COP where they will share best practices and showcase environmental work undertaken by
youth in Africa.
A series of activities are planes for the RIO+20 meeting. A number of these activities address climate
change related actions as follows:
2. Regional and Sub-regional Conferences
- North America: Bekerley, California on 11 – 12 August. It brought together young people from all
over North America to prepare for the Bandung Conference. The main focus was “Rio+20”;
- Europe: Bonn, Germany on 6 - 7 September. Will bring together young people from all over Europe to
prepare for the Bandung Conference – the main focus will be “Rio+20”
- The Asia and the Pacific region will have 5 sub-regional meetings between October 2011 and March 2012
to engage young people in the various sub-region on the “Rio+20” process
- Latin America and the Caribbean will hold its regional meeting in Bogota, Colombia on 24 – 25
November to engage youth from the region on the “Rio+20” process;
- West Asia will also organize a regional Conference in early 2012 to engage youth in the region on the
““Rio+20”” process.
3. Youth GEO5 “Tunza Acting for a Better World”
The Bandung Conference started a process for young people to develop their version of the UNEP state of the
environment report – the Global Environment Outlook (GEO5). The publication will borrow from the
factual information from the GEO5 process but also provide ideas to young people on how that can address
the various environmental problems highlighted in the report. It will use practical examples of young
people doing things to cope with environmental issues in their countries and communities.
The publication which will be entitled “Tunza Acting for a Better World” is planned to be
launched in Rio during “Rio+20”.
4. Global Forum for Children and Youth at Rio, June 2012
Representatives from the national and regional processes and the Tunza International Conference will meet
in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 for 5 days to discuss the sustainable development agenda from a youth
perspective. Some of the participants will be accredited to the official “Rio+20” process to
present the perspectives of young people and to bring feedback from the official process to the Global
Forum. The Forum will address aspects of youth and climate change.
For more information contact Theodore Oben at theodore.oben@unep.org or Fanina Kodre at Fanina.Kodre@unep.org
United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO)
1. YouthXchange climate change and lifestyles guidebook (UNEP/UNESCO)
The new
UNESCO/UNEP YouthXchange guidebook on
climate change and lifestyles is the first in a series of thematic guidebooks supporting the
YouthXchange Initiative. The thematic guidebooks take into account challenges, opportunities, good
practices and case studies on global challenges. UNEP and UNESCO’s YouthXchange Guidebook on Climate
Change and Lifestyles aims to answer the questions that young people aged from 15 to 24 may have, and to
inspire them in their daily lives. It explores the interrelationship between climate change and lifestyles
through a scientific, political, economic, social, ethical and cultural angle and identifies actions young
people might take towards more sustainable lifestyles. It channels the relevant information related to
climate change in a less abstract and frightening manner, helping young people develop alternate visions
and set goals towards improving their future. This guidebook provides information, case studies and useful
tips around topics relevant to young people and their everyday lives, such as food and drink, travel and
transport, leisure and entertainment.
2. Climate change education starters guidebook (UNESCO/UNEP)
UNESCO together with UNEP developed a Climate
Change Starter’s Guidebook provides an introduction and overview for education planners and
practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education,
including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and
economic principals.
The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education. It has
been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and
analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of
education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans.
The guide covers four major thematic areas:
1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes;
2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and
ethics;
3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and
4.education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable
lifestyles.
A selection of key resources in form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided
after each of the thematic sections.
3. The Experts Meeting on Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development and
Adaptation in SIDS was held on 21-23 September in the Bahamas. It marked a defining moment in UNESCO's
work on climate change for sustainable development, setting the stage for the Organization's action in
support of SIDS for the remaining years of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and
beyond.
This three-day expert meeting gathered around 100 experts, primarily from SIDS in the Caribbean, the
Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, representing a multi-disciplinary and diverse group of stakeholders to
discuss and reflect on the challenges that climate change poses to education systems in SIDS, and the role
that education can play in adaptation to climate change.
The group of experts developed recommendations which included among others: the importance of linking
education for disaster risk reduction and climate change education for adaptation in SIDS; a proposal to
develop a SIDS research agenda, where schools and communities can contribute through participation in
research and benefit from the potential of SIDS to serve as living laboratories for long-term climate
studies; the support to interregional SIDS-SIDS cooperation; the importance of learning from local and
indigenous knowledge and respecting other systems of knowledge and values such as the relationship of
people, land, sea, ancestors and the spiritual realm; the need to diversify climate change communication
and make use of information and communication technologies, especially social media and mobile phones in
SIDS; and to link climate change education and the arts.
The recommendations will serve as a contribution to the upcoming 17th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC
in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011 and the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012 as well as the
End-of-Decade Conference of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in 2014. For more
information click
here
For more information contact Julia Heiss at j.heiss@unesco.org
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
1. Screening of UN-HABITAT Cartoon on Climate Change
UN-HABITAT and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) are planning to screen a cartoon titled ‘The
Change’, a short film on climate change to children attending public primary schools under the
control of the authority in Kampala. The film, produced by UN-HABITAT is a simple to understand and
remarkable educational cartoon capturing the entire climate change debate from unsustainable production and
consumption, impact of climate change on communities to simple adaptation measures. The cartoon ends with a
message that it is not too late to fix our past behavior but that society needs to act now in not only
mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and polluting the environment but also putting in place adaptation
measures.
The cartoon screening will target the 110 primary schools under the control of the KCCA. The cartoon will
be shown to children between the ages of 6 and 9 in Class 1 to 4 of primary school.
Posters will be printed in Nairobi and distributed to the schools. A follow-up mission will take place 3
months later to learn from the teachers how children reacted to the cartoon and to know what actions were
taken by the children and the school.
2. Youth Caravan to COP 17/CMP 7
The Youth Caravan that
is part of the "We Have Faith” campaign will
kick-start in Nairobi, Kenya on 7 November 2011 and will travel through 3 African countries to reach Durban
by 23 November 2011. The initiative brings together faith-based organizations, community-based
organizations and youth movements from across Africa and draws the support from global climate justice and
faith based movements to demand action, as well as give options and solutions.
The caravan will travel by road through several African countries carrying the message of climate justice.
The young participants will use music, dance and drama to create awareness about climate change and COP
17/CMP 7. The participants will also share community initiatives on climate change, meet with stakeholders
in different countries and amplify the voice of young people throughout the continent.
The caravan will complete its journey with a final performance in the soccer stadium in Durban with
approximately 1,000 youth performing in a mass choir together with celebrities from Africa and beyond,
including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson.
For more information contact John Mwaura
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
1. Climate Ambassador Programme
In 2009, in the week before the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s COP15, UNICEF organized
the Children’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen (CCF or CCFC). The true launch of the Climate Ambassador
Programme, the event brought together 160 young people from 44 countries to discuss climate change and
build their skills to make change in their communities. For UNICEF, this was in many ways the beginning of
widespread action on climate change and adolescent participation in Country Offices and NatComs worldwide.
Below are many of the stories of how UNICEF offices prepared their Ambassadors for the Forum and what
Climate Ambassadors did with UNICEF after the CCF with their increased skills and knowledge.
2. Classroom Education Programmes
Canada: UNICEF Canada works with educators (boards,
teaching organizations and education federations) to raise awareness around children’s rights and how
to bring the rights based approach into the classroom in a practical and manageable way that will make the
classroom a better place. UNICEF Canada has integrated "Learning for a Sustainable Future"
workshops into this programme, featuring trainings at conferences for teachers and students. UNICEF has
also created a number of "Green Learning" sites, with numerous resources for teachers online.
This has been shared with all of the teachers within UNICEF's network. Since UNICEF works with both
teachers and professors who teach teachers in training, the change can often reach far more people
indirectly than directly.
Luxembourg: UNICEF is working to support the government's initiative to integrate sustainable
development into school curricula, as a part of the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development.
UNICEF Luxembourg feeds into government dialogues and has shared the tools that other UNICEF offices have
developed when needed.
China: UNICEF is running Environment, Climate Change & Disaster courses in a few pilot schools,
and have support to scale this up to 100 schools. They have developed an interactive and integrated whole
school climate programme, which includes both content for the classroom as well as tangible actions such as
planting trees, stabilizing slopes, planting vegetables for nutrition purposes, and teaching children to
calculate their carbon emissions.
3. Community Education Programmes
In order to make widespread environmental change in a community, many UNICEF offices have recognized a need
to not only engaging children but larger communities. Identifying key social events and community values in
a region, these projects can often reach people that traditional environmental programmes may miss. Even
for children, engaging outside of the classroom can ensure that environmental ideas are translated into
practical action.
4. Tree Plantations & Gardens
All over the world, tree plantations are often seen as the easiest way to engage children in an
environmental event or project, and when approached this way, they remain little more than a one-off event.
These projects become more valuable when they are bundled with long-term engagement in that community or
when accompanied by community trainings to ensure the trees are cared for and protected.
5. Action Research
The idea of Action Research has been very promising in many areas besides environment, and there are
examples of how this idea can be very effective at engaging adolescents. By training adolescents with key
research skills and focusing research on critical social issues, the outcomes can directly translate into
action plans for community projects or into advocacy at a local, regional or national level to the
government.
6. Water, Sanitation and Health
As WASH is both a key area of UNICEF’s operations worldwide and also one of the sectors and resources
that will be most impacted by climate change, WASH projects are a natural fit for climate change
interventions. Furthermore, water quality testing and monitoring is very straightforward to train children
and youth to do at their schools and community water sources. When young people are conducting these tests,
they can be more frequent and more distributed than if an expert outside of the community is doing testing,
and the youth and their families become strong advocates for water quality management.
For more details about UNICEF’s work please contact Ms. Stephanie Hodge (shodge@unicef.org), Ms.
Takae Ishizuka (tishizuka@unicef.org)
Earth Child Institute (ECI)
1. Side-event at United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on Youth
In July, ECI co-organized a side event entitled: Youth Leaders Speak Out About Effective Inter-Generational
Climate Action (link to press release) with United Nations Environment Programmme (UNEP), the World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal
Education, and in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
2. Establishment of youth-led Nepal country office
ECI's youth-led Nepal country office is up and running making strides for children in the Dolpa
district. Their Facebook page is accessible here.
For more information contact Donna Goodman
TakingITGlobal
TakingITGlobal is in the process of conducting a series of five European Youth Environment and Education
forums to involve youth, educators, and environmentalists in forming recommendations to the agenda of the
UN Rio+20 Earth Summit.
TakingITGlobal has launched Youthmovements.org, a collaborative
mapping platform for youth-led and youth-focused projects. The online tool is an updated version of
TakingITGlobal’s project management infrastructure and a series of monthly inquiry groups to increase
cross sector contact. This project is not solely focused upon climate initiatives, but aims to draw
connections between actors across movements.
For more information contact Liam O’Doherty.
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)
WAGGGS current activities at national and regional level are supported by the World
Thinking Day Activity Pack that helps children and young people to speak out and take action. Chapter
four of the Pack contains the demands that WAGGGs members are delivering to decision-makers. It is
currently implemented at both national and regional levels in 145 member countries with a special focus on
the African region.
WAGGGS has also recently published the “Guidelines
for WAGGGS Members to promote non-formal climate change education to decision-makers” which aims
to support advocacy efforts on Article 6 of the UNFCCC at the national level.
For more information contact Bernadette Fischler
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