Background:

This session highlights the urgent link between Indigenous rights, youth leadership and climate justice. It amplifies Indigenous youth voices, not just as stakeholders, but as leaders in shaping equitable climate solutions. 

Objectives:

• To present Panagsupyat as both testimony and tool, emphasizing how Indigenous youth organize and resist in defense of their territories and the planet.  

• To situate Indigenous youth struggles against extractive projects within the global climate justice discourse.  

• To foster cross-regional learning by engaging Indigenous youth speakers from Asia in dialogue with global climate action initiatives under the UNFCCC.  

• To identify pathways for recognizing and strengthening Indigenous youth leadership in climate policy, advocacy, and community solutions. 

This session was organised by: 

• Asia Young Indigenous Peoples Network (AYIPN) - working to educate and raise awareness of indigenous peoples, in particular the indigenous youth, on various issues confronting them and the community,  

• Youth Empowerment in Climate Action Platform (YECAP) - supporting youth in all their diverse identities and experiences advance their climate journeys to meaningfully engage in action, advocacy, and acceleration of the movement towards a just climate future. 

• RCC Asia-Pacific - providing hands-on support to governments, NGOs and the private sector in Asia and the Pacific 

• The Youth4Capacity programme - building the capacity of young people to act on climate change while promoting active exchange of experiences and addressing the linkages between climate action, the SDGs, and the three Rio conventions.