Children’s Right to Be Heard in Global Climate Change Negotiations

This document from Plan International focuses on climate change and the possibilities of child-centred community action and contribution to national and international consultations. "Granted the opportunity to learn, to be informed, and to take part, children can be very effective agents for change. From local level community based disaster risk reduction interventions, to global level engagement in climate change decision-making, children all over the world are now showing their interest, capacity and valuable role in strengthening resilience to climate risks. Plan is determined to work towards a world where genuine children’s participation is the norm, not a novelty - including participation in climate change decisions."

The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child has obtained agreement from nations through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to assure that children must be heard if the matter under discussion affects the child. It states that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration and provides justification - and guidance - for bringing children into climate change decision making at the global level. Children can organise and participate in local climate change projects to mobilise action in support of building resilience to climate risks. As stated here, they need opportunity and space to express ideas, build knowledge, and voice their concerns.

Awareness raising activities can occur through school and community projects, campaign marches, youth group activities, web 2.0 campaigning (using interactive web media such as Facebook and Twitter), and organised national network events (with support from non-governmental organisation (NGO) networks, such as tcktcktck.org and 350.org) to name just a few. There is also a growing trend of school linking projects utilising web platforms to generate inter-cultural dialogue and learning (see, for example, the Climate exChange project and learning space led by Plan). Children can raise awareness about climate change and young people’s rights through using media tools themselves, including radio broadcasting, mobile phones, and participatory video, where children can employ information and communication technology (ICT) to help get their message across.

Examples are given of previous child- and youth-participation projects in major climate change meetings which have included speaking at and leading ‘side events’. These comprised face-to-face and video conference meetings with high level actors including Yvo de Boer, Mary Robinson, Margareta Wahlström, and a number of government ministers and negotiators from across the globe. Children have been involved in interviewing and reporting to their peers, as well as national media at home, through news blogs, reports, and stories to their own local and national newspapers.

In this document, produced in advance of COP15 in Copenhagen, Plan, calls for systematic and effective approaches for children’s direct participation at official climate change negotiations and calls on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) decision makers to accept children as official stakeholders by providing a formal mechanism for children to dialogue and influence climate change decision making at the global level, including disaster risk reduction accountability mechanisms.

Examples of children and youth participation include: Facilitated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the J8 Youth summits run parallel to the regular Group of 8 (G8) meetings of leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and Russia. In Vietnam, Plan International and Save the Children facilitated consultations to secure the inclusion of children’s views in the national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) process. Children and young people can also be involved in communication for policy influence and accountability mechanisms in civil society through:

• Child-centred and child-led fora at local, national and international levels
  
• Monitoring and Evaluation, including indicators established by young stakeholders
  
• National delegations that include children and young people
  
• Children/youth parliaments that allow formal interaction between young people and their governments
  
• Civil society children’s advisory boards acting in the form of youth advisory boards or individual youth advisors, channelling children’s voices.
  

Plan International's recommendations for December 2009 UNFCCC negotiations call on governments to respect their commitments made under the UNCRC to prioritise children’s best interests and deliver a "fair, ambitious, binding and effective climate change global agreement on climate change" (written in preparation for the Copenhagen meeting of 2009 called COP15). It lists the following measures to promote intergenerational justice:

• "Acknowledge children as official stakeholders, providing formal mechanisms for children to join the dialogue and contribute to decision making on climate change.
  
• Guide national delegations on how to facilitate consultations with children on climate change decision-making.
  
• Ensure full accountability for commitments made on mitigation and adaptation, by developing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms which provide for the contribution of children’s views.
  
• Encourage civil society organisations engaged in climate change to establish formal mechanisms for children’s participation.
  
• Emphasise the significance of children - in terms of differentiated impacts and children’s 'agency' - within the 5th IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] Assessment Report.
  
• Insist that governments must invest more in education so future generations have the knowledge and skills to better manage our environment and adapt to climate change."

Author's note: "See the Children in a Changing Climate website for more examples and case studies of young people’s agency in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction decision making and action - from their communities, right up to the UN. Children in a Changing Climate is a coalition of leading child-centred agencies focusing on disaster risk reduction, including Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF [the United nations Children's Fund] and World Vision, with the Institute of Development Studies.)"