Youth to play active role in Bonn climate talks

Ahead of and during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, in May of this year, youth from all over the world will be able to raise their voices and play an active role in helping to raise ambition to tackle climate change.
Youth from all over the world are invited to participate in the Action for Climate Empowerment Youth Forum, taking place on 29 April, in Bonn, Germany. Youth from developing countries that are seeking funding for participation can apply for a scholarship now.
The aim of the Forum is to effectively engage young people in negotiations on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), which focuses on education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information and international cooperation. Additionally, the outputs of the event will be presented during a special ACE Workshop which will coincide with the negotiations at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (from 30 April to 10 May 2018).
Out of the hundreds of expected participants for the Forum, about 40 young people from the countries of the Global South will receive ACE Youth Forum Scholarships, which include complete funding and support for participation in the event. Applications for the scholarships can be submitted by 12 March by via the official website.
“In every corner of the globe, governments, cities, the private sector and civil society are framing that future around three crucial questions—Where are we? Where do we want to go? And How Will We get There?”, says Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“The Youth Forum, the brainchild of the COP23 Fijian Presidency, is youth’s opportunity to provide their unique vision for answering these questions. In doing so, they can help be architects of the next phase of the Paris Agreement as nations look to get further and faster on track to a climate safe century”, she added.
Youth is already leading concrete action on how to tackle climate change. Two young climate activists from India and Morocco, for example, were selected last year as the winners of the 3rd edition of the Global Youth Video Competition.
Adarsh Prathap, from India, was the winner for the category “Oceans and climate change”, with the video “Let mangroves recover”, which underlines the importance of mangroves and shows how their conservation can save thousands of lives.
Younes Lamsaoui, from Morocco, won the category “Climate friendly and resilient cities”, with the production “Turning green”. The video highlights how Marrakech, or the “red city”, is responding to the challenges of climate change and how he is contributing to this transition.
Participants of the ACE Youth Forum will also have the opportunity to share stories of their climate action experiences, exchange best practices and lessons learned relating to the components of ACE, in addition to developing creative and effective ACE-related climate actions.
The ACE Youth Forum is an initiative of the Presidency of the 23rd UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) and YOUNGO (the official youth constituency to UN Climate Change), in partnership with the Government of Canada, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Climate Change.