Background and Objective

In the critical context of climate change, youth in Pacific Island Countries (PICs) face significant and disproportionate impacts, necessitating their active involvement in decision-making and climate action. Efforts to empower youth through participation in planning and implementation are ongoing, and the recent COP28 reaffirmed the importance of including all stakeholders, particularly youth, in addressing the climate crisis.

As countries prepare to update their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in 2025, aligning climate action with sustainable development is crucial. Despite having climate strategies in place, PICs remain confronted with challenges in fully realizing their climate goals, underscoring the need for meaningful youth engagement in future climate processes.

This virtual session aimed:

• To review important concepts to further the understanding of the youth on its role in climate action, highlighting the importance of engaging them in accelerating climate action and just and inclusive transition; 

• To initially determine the level/extent of youth engagement in previous NDC processes by the governments; 

• To discuss entry points for meaningful youth engagement, beyond checklists and advocacy aspects, and 

• To further strengthen regional support and collaboration, including ensuring meaningful youth engagement in shaping the NDCs 3.0. 

Summary

The session was conducted ahead of the Pacific regional forum on NDCs 3.0 and Article 6 to better prepare the youth participants on key topics, and provide contexts on how governments can meaningfully engage youth in NDC 3.0 formulation.

Presentations on the role of the youth in climate action and the overview of YECAP as a platform for youth engagement were made. Insights from Samoa and Papua New Guinea youth representatives were also shared, particularly on best practices, gaps, challenges and opportunities towards meaningful youth engagement. Among the best practices were the government's recognition of youth presence and extending support from governments to enable participation of youth in capacity-building activities; gaps and challenges include lack of financial and capacity-building support for the youth; opportunities include access to support from UN agencies and partners.

Discussions were further substantiated in the Pacific Forum where a session on meaningful youth engagement was conducted with government representatives and partners also making interventions on the topic.

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