YOUNGO | UNFCCC

YOUNGO

Overview
Focal Points

YOUNGO is the official children and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). YOUNGO is a vibrant, global network of children and youth activists (up to 35 years) as well as youth NGOs, who contribute to shaping the intergovernmental climate change policies and strive to empower youth to formally bring their voices to the UNFCCC processes.

In 2009, the UNFCCC secretariat extended constituency status to admitted youth NGOs. YOUNGO’s vision is to empower children and youth to take action and works to enhance their skills and capacity to drive the necessary and ambitious climate actions and policies at all levels towards a livable climate just future. YOUNGO representatives make official statements, provide technical and policy inputs to negotiations and engage with decision-makers at the UN climate change conferences, and promote youth participation in climate change projects at local and national levels.

YOUNGO focuses on the following areas:
1) Awareness, Knowledge and Capacity Building
2) Collaboration, Cooperation and Network
3) Policy, Lobby and Advocacy
4) Youth Action

Mashkur Isa

Global South Focal Point

Nigeria

Email: mashkur.isa@youngoclimate.org

Dr. Mashkur, an Erasmus Mundus Alumni with a background in medicine and public health, is dedicated to amplifying the voices of children and youth. His impactful roles as Co-coordinator of the COP28 Children and Youth Pavilion, and on the organizing teams of the 16. Conference of Youth (COY16), 3rd ACE Youth Forum, and the COP27 Children and Youth Pavilion underline his commitment to fostering inclusivity and meaningful youth engagement. Dr. Mashkur works to empower youths and promote grassroots climate action as the Director of Planning for the Global Environmental and Climate Conservation Initiative (GECCI).

Romie Niedermayer

Global North Focal Point

Germany

Email: romie@youngoclimate.org

Romie aims to empower youth in the fight for climate justice, advocating for meaningful change in policies and practices. At 22 years old, Romie is currently pursuing a degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Her experience in youth leadership positions, organizing LCOYs, and following UNFCCC negotiations, particularly in the realm of finance, has provided Romie with key expertise in youth engagement, political strategy, and advocacy.

Previous YOUNGO Focal Points

2023

Hemavathi S Shekhar
Global South Focal Point
India
Email: shekhar.hemavathis@youngoclimate.org

Hemavathi S Shekhar is a lawyer by training, a researcher and an Academic with a primary focus on climate change and the law. As the founder of Enact Earth Foundation, she aims to create a more inclusive dialogue around climate change and promote climate literacy. She strives to protect the rights of vulnerable communities by creatively utilising the law. Through her work, she emphasizes the importance of making climate education accessible and engaging for youth and advocates for policies prioritizing equity and justice.

Zihan Xuan
Global North Focal Point
UK
Email: zihan.xuan@youngoclimate.org

Zihan is a firm believer that unlocking the potential of young people to take climate action is key to driving a sustainable future. Currently based in the United Kingdom, Zihan co-coordinated the Global Youth Statement across COP26 and COP27, helping to amplify the voices and policy proposals of more than 40,000 young people from 140 countries around the world. In 2022, he has also completed internships with the UNFCCC and the World Meteorological Organisation. Academically, he is completing his undergraduate studies at University College London, where he reads Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and served as Executive Director of the UCL Climate Action Society.

2022

Elizabeth Gulugulu
Global South Focal Point
Zimbabwe
Email: egulugulu@youngoclimate.org

Elizabeth Gulugulu is an MSc Candidate in Biodiversity Conservation, and a member of African Youth Initiative on Climate Change Zimbabwe. She is interested in youth participation in Climate Change Policy and has led several consultations on meaningful youth engagement in National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions.

Xan Northcott
Global North Focal Point
UK/Canada
Email: xannorthcott@youngoclimate.org

Xan has worked to support youth climate action, political engagement and social entrepreneurship in roles including Coordinator of the Generation Global educational programme at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and previously with the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation, Generation Citizen and United Nations Development Programme. Xan joined YOUNGO in 2019 and was Programme Working Group Coordinator for the 16th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth, which prepared the youth civil society participation and policy proposals for COP26. He began his career as a teacher's assistant in the UK and South Africa, and since 2019 has also been a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, working to educate on the latest climate science and different methods and strategies for youth climate action. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and with Politics Honors from New York University.

2020 - 2021

Marie-Claire Graf
Global North Focal Point
Switzerland
Email: marie-claire.graf@unmgcy.org

Marie-Claire Graf is a Swiss youth advocate and change maker for just sustainable development and ambitious climate action through her diverse engagement in several initiatives around all dimensions of sustainability on a local, national and international level. It’s her aspiration to inspire and empower youth to take meaningful, impactful and positive actions to create a momentum for change. She was initiating and is leading several associations in the fields of climate action, sustainable development, youth and women empowerment and education. Since COP23 she is a member of YOUNGO and the Bottom-Lining Team and joined COP25 as member of the Swiss Delegation as expert on ACE and negotiator for PCCP, technology transfer and gender issues. Recently she was awarded as United Nations Youth Climate Champion for Switzerland.

Heeta Lakhani
Global South Focal Point
India
Email: heeta.lakhani@unmgcy.org

Heeta is a firm believer in the power of the young people in grassroots as well as international processes and policies. She has attended multiple United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate change negotiations since COP21, Paris in 2015. She is currently the Executive Director (India) for the 11th World Wilderness Congress (WILD11) which was scheduled to be convened in Jaipur, India in March 2020 and aimed to straddle the overarching issues related to biodiversity conservation, economics and climate change. She is a Global Mentor with the POP (Protect Our Planet) Movement, Inc. a youth movement aimed to address the issues of climate change faced by our planet using knowledge-based solutions. In 2017, Heeta started her own program in Mumbai, India called Green Warriors. She educates school students on climate change and aims to bridge the knowledge gap on climate science as well as international processes among the children in Mumbai, who are at the forefront of facing the impacts of climate change in the coming years.

2019

Serena Bashal
Global North Focal Point
UK
Email: serena.bashal@gmail.com

Serena is the International Youth NGOs Officer and Recruitment Coordinator for the national youth organization, the UK Youth Climate Coalition, having been a member for three years. She is based in the UK and is currently studying an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Biology at Keele University where she is strongly advocating for more ambitious Paris Agreement implementation after the university’s 2019 climate emergency declaration. She is coordinating the UK’s first Local Conference of Youth to inspire and empower British youth by acting locally whilst thinking globally. She has lobbied local, national and international governments and has attended several conferences and forums across the globe. Her experience with UNFCCC Sessions spans between COP22, COP23, SB48.2, COP24 and SB50. As Focal Point, Serena aims to close the gaps between Global North and Global South youth participation in the international climate space and mobilize and empower British youth to take ambitious climate action.

Chiagozie Udeh
Global South Focal Point
Nigeria
Email: zenithofzest@gmail.com

Chiagozie is a Nigerian expert on global climate policy and African politics, focusing on renewable energy, loss and damage and climate finance thematics. Chiagozie is the Secretary of the Global Executive Board and a Programme Coordinator in Nigeria for Plant-for-the-Planet. Through the Trillion Trees campaign, Chiagozie explores ways to get Member States and private sector organizations to set ambitious afforestation targets to reduce carbon emissions by 25% in 2030. He was the 2017 Regional Focal Point for the Oceans working group of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. In the African Union’s ECOSOC Committee he is the Coordinator of the Energy thematic group. Contributing to Africa's clean energy revolution with his multinational solar energy startup AFROwatt Express, he aims to sustainably electrify rural communities. Chiagozie’s latest work highlights Nigeria’s current security challenges owing to desertification, drought and other effects of climate change; one of his policy briefs won the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series 2018 and was published by the Ecologist. His next focus is on helping African countries to build proactive disaster risk reduction structures

2018

Clara von Glasow
Global North Focal Point
Germany
Email: clara.von-glasow@gmail.com

Clara is a law student based in Germany. She is a member of the Youth Alliance for Future Energies (Jugendbündnis Zukunftsenergie) and was a member of the organizing team of the 13. Conference of Youth (COY13). She has attended the Intersessional Conference SB46 as well as COP23 in Bonn and primarily focused on the field of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). Clara strongly believes that youth involvement in the UNFCCC processes is of high importance as the decisions will effect the young and the future generations immensely. As YOUNGO focal point from the Global North Clara aims to support other young people to participate in our common way forward to save our own future and that of our plane

2017

Joanna Read
Global North Focal Point
UK
Email: joanna.read@ukycc.org

Joanna is based in the UK, and works as an environmental consultant. She has been part of UKYCC (UK Youth Climate Coalition) for 3 years, and has attended 5 UNFCCC events so far (3 Intersessional Conferences in Bonn, COP21 in Paris and COP22 in Marrakesh). She passionately believes young people should have a voice in all decision making processes concerning climate change, because the solution lies in the younger generation. Within YOUNGO Joanna has mainly been active in the working group on long term goal/mitigation taking part in YOUNGO Actions. She loves connecting with different people and being inspired by new friends taking amazing action against climate change. Joanna hopes to use the role of being the focal point for the Global North to facilitate enhanced youth participation in the fight against climate change, within the UNFCCC and beyond.

Karuna Rana
Global South focal Point
Mauritius
Email: karuna.rana@syah.org

Karuna Rana is the co-founder and executive director of SIDS Youth AIMS Hub (SYAH), the first regional, youth-led organization aimed at advancing sustainable development across Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Africa and Asia. Her extensive 7-year experience in the environmental and youth development area spans across grassroots actions, advocacy and reducing the ecological footprint of organizations - within non-profits, corporations and inter-governmental organizations alike. Through prior roles such as UNEP Tunza Youth Advisor for Africa and Organizing Partner for SIDS for the UN Major Group for Children and Youth, Karuna has lobbied governments and coordinated the participation of young people at the Rio+20 Summit, the African Union and the 3rd International Conference on SIDS. In addition to her role within SYAH, Karuna is the coordinator of the Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network (CYCN).

2016

Timothy Damon
Global North Focal Point
USA
Email: tdamon12@gmail.com

Timothy Damon has been deeply engaged in the UNFCCC space since COP17 and his work has largely focused on championing the principle of Intergenerational Equity, which was recognized in the Paris Agreement, while also building the capacity of YOUNGO to advocate for youth policy priorities.

Miriam Carolina Somocurcio Holguín
Global South Focal Point
Peru
Email: miriamcsh@gmail.com

Miriam Somocurcio from Cusco, Peru has been engaged with YOUNGO since COP20 as a member of the Bottom Lining Team and the Human Rights Working Group.

2015

Nathan Thanki
Global North Focal Point
Ireland
Email: thanki.nathan@gmail.com

Ruth Nyambura
Global South Focal Point
Kenya
Email: nyamburah89@gmail.com

2014

Sabrina Marquant
Global North Focal Point
France
Email: marquantsabrina@gmail.com

Sabrina is a Senior Policy Advisor and Advocacy Officer in Climate Diplomacy with a specific focus on community resilience facing interconnected and cascading risks. Specialized in improving integrated risk management in the face of escalating climate impacts, her current work focuses on the coherence of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Development Agenda in the development, the implementation and the monitoring of national DRR and adaptation plans and strategies. At the UN Climate Talks, she is tracking the discussion on adaptation and loss and damage.

Danaé Espinoza
Global South Focal Ppint
Mexico
Email: danae.espinozah@gmail.com

Berenice Danaé Espinoza H. is an Internationalist who graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is co-founder of Movimiento de Jóvenes Latinoamericanos y Caribeños frente al Cambio Climático (CLIC!). Former YOUNGO Global South Focal Point to UNFCCC (2014). She has been part of the official Mexican Delegation of negotiators as a member of the CSOs working directly in the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) negotiations of the UNFCCC. As part of the Education, Communication & Outreach Stakeholders Community (ECOS), she serves as the acting co-liaison for the Latin American & the Caribbean region. She is the co-author of the book “Young people towards 2030. Innovation for transformation: Contributions for Reflection”, a UNFPA publication in Mexico in collaboration with the Mexican Institute of Youth (IMJUVE) to make visible the importance of having the participation of young people in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. She has been part of the development and implementation of capacity building projects in climate change for youth in the Latin American region.

2013

Jamie Peters
Global North Focal Point
UK
Email: jamie.peters@ukycc.org

Jamie is currently Director of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He has previously led campaigns against fracking in England and been a community organizer across the country.

Liangyi Chang
Global South Focal Point
China
Email: liangyi@350.org

Liangyi is now with 350.org Asia team as Managing director. His concerns about Climate Change started from 2009, he has established the 1st youth climate organization in Taiwan - Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition and participated in UNFCCC’s 15th Conference of the Parties till global south focal point in 2013. With the belief of future generations, he even initiated project to South pacific islands in 2010 for sea level raising witness and 2041 project to Antarctica in 2013 for ice melting investigation tour. Then, he continuously supported youths organizations across the Asia region with the belief of change for a better future.

2012

MJ Shaio
Global North Focal Point
USA
Email: mj.shiao@sustainus.org

Abhishek Shrestha
Global South Focal Point
Nepal
Email: aviish27@gmail.com

Abhishek is a Chevening Scholar who graduated in Masters in Climate Change and policy from University of Sussex, UK in 2013. He received “Climate Change Award” in 2017 from the Government of Nepal for his work on climate policy and advocacy. He has decade-long experience working as an activist, researcher, campaigner, policy analyst and strategic communicator at national and international levels on climate change and environmental governance. He has also been awarded the “JWH Initiative Environment” leadership Award 2017.

He is the co-founder and leads the climate justice program at Digo Bikas Institute, a research and advocacy organization based in Kathmandu. He has served as contributing author for the Government of Nepal publications on key issues at various UN climate change conferences and was also a member of the Nepali government delegation at COP 23 in 2017.

2011

Lauren Nutter
Global North Focal Point
USA
Email: lauren@youthclimate.org

Jean Paul Brice Affana
Global South Focal Point
Cameroon
Email: jeanpaulaffana@yahoo.fr

2010

Sébastien Duyck
Global North Focal Point
Finland
Email: sduyck@ciel.org

Rishikesh Ram Bhandary
Global South Focal Point
Nepal
Email:rishikeshram@gmail.com

2009

Wilson Ang
Global North Focal Point
Singapore
Email: wilson.ang@eco-singapore.org

Lina Li
Global South Focal Point
China
Email: lilina.mun@gmail.com

Lina Li is a Senior Manager Carbon Markets and Pricing at adelphi working on emissions trading and market mechanisms. She is a specialist in carbon markets, low-emissions development, and climate and foreign policy with more than ten years of experience. Lina holds a master’s degree in International Politics from the School of International Studies of the Peking University and a bachelor’s degree in diplomacy from the Renmin University of China. She was selected as one of the 50 students to attend the 2041 Antarctic Expedition in 2009 and is also a member of the Global Diplomacy Lab, the Sino-German Future Bridge (Zukunftsbrücke – 未来之桥), and the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network.