World Youth Skills Day: Promoting education, training towards a sustainable future

To spread awareness about the importance of youth skills development, young people across the globe are celebrating the World Youth Skills Day (#WYSD2018) on Sunday, July 15. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly, the day is celebrated every year to call for increased prospects for youth to gain access to quality training and skills development.
Since young people are the drivers of a sustainable future, reaching out to youth is increasingly important for the United Nations and many other organizations that rely on the creativity and dynamism of young people to fill international agreements such as the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Global Goals with life.
Earlier this year, UN’s top climate change official, Patricia Espinosa, called on the world’s youth to be more proactive in protecting their future by taking climate action and standing up for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, above all at community level.
“What we need right now – in this moment – are the ideas, innovation and energy that bring solutions to all countries, all markets and all people around the world. Young people want to be involved in the process, and we value that interest,” she said.
Climate change is both an enormous challenge and an incredible opportunity for young people. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and climate change impacts continue to worsen, future generations will be forced to shoulder the biggest share of the burden.
Therefore, the empowerment of major groups like young people to take climate action is one of the mandates agreed by governments meeting under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. To this end, an initiative called the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) operates within the focus of so-called “Article 6” of the Convention that seeks to reduce the impacts of climate change by enabling society to be a part of the solution.
The six priority action areas of ACE – education, training, public access to information, public awareness, public participation and international cooperation – are all guided by specific objectives that, together, are crucial for effectively implementing climate adaptation and mitigation actions, and for achieving the ultimate objective of the Climate Change Convention.
In order to empower youth and public to take climate action, many activities are held under the ACE initiative. This year, for example, a Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change has been launched where young people can document activities in the fight against climate change in the form of a video.