Navigating the UN Environment Assembly: perspectives of two youth activists
In February, the CRIN team attended the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi together with a former CRIN Climate Adviser, Yola, from South Africa who is also part of Black Girls Rising. Also in attendance was Kartik, from India, a former Children’s Advisory Team member for the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment 26 on children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change. In this interview, we asked them to share their experience attending UNEA, which focused on the triple planetary crisis (climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution), and reflect on this space’s relevance to children’s rights.
Many people are aware of big climate conferences like COP but less of UNEA. Can you explain what UNEA is?
Kartik: UNEA is like the world’s environmental parliament where important decisions are made, creating a basis for future laws at national and international levels. It highlights the problems we will face in the future. For example this year, at UNEA-6, there was a resolution on metal and minerals, to regulate humanity’s use of resources and address issues associated with the lifecycle of metal and minerals. This will be very relevant for ensuring we preserve resources, including metals and minerals for future generations. UNEA might be less known than the climate COP because it can feel like a very technical expert space. It is difficult to get involved if you don’t have a scientific background. There is also less civil society engagement - where they can often simplify and explain what is going on in the entire discourse.
In what capacity did you attend UNEA-6 and how did your expectations of the conference align with the actual discussions and outcomes you witnessed?
Yola: I was speaking on a panel on ‘Advancing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment’ and I attended other events, including State negotiations of resolutions. I did not have set expectations but something that surprised me was seeing less children there. Another thing was seeing a representative of South Africa, my country, taking the floor during the negotiations. I often feel like the environment is not taken seriously in my country and so that gave me hope.
Kartik: I attended UNEA-6 as a youth advocate - and as a child advocate as I only turned 18 recently. I followed the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives which is where States and other stakeholders pre-negotiate resolutions, declarations and decisions for endorsement and approval by the Assembly. Attending the Committee of Permanent Representatives meetings the month before UNEA helps in having a clear picture of what will happen at UNEA. You can get an overview on which topics there will be disagreement with, the strength of upcoming resolutions, etc. For example, from the start of UNEA-6 you could tell we were not going to achieve strong and binding resolutions like at the previous UNEA (i.e. the one on plastic pollution). This year, almost every resolution was voluntary in its approach, using softer language which was also weakened during negotiations. Many of us were emotional about how the climate justice resolution, which was presented by Sri Lanka, died in the process of negotiations - it was not agreed on at the end. We had a lot of hope and high expectations, but that expectation was not met with great results unfortunately.
Were there any specific sessions, dialogues or resolutions that resonated with you the most, and why?
Yola: I liked the smaller events, including the one on ‘women in climate leadership forum: eco-feminine forces shaping sustainable horizons for environmental harmony’. I was also interested in seeing how youth delegates were able to engage in the different sessions [editor note: the United Nations defines ‘youth’ as persons aged between 15 and 24; however, this definition is not universal. For example, people under 35 years can join the Children and Youth Major group]. This showed that their role in advocating for environmental justice and sustainability is recognised in this space to address climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. I also learnt about and met members of the Children and Youth Major Group which was of great interest to me.
Kartik: The resolution I closely followed was on clean air proposed by the US and Canada. UNEP’s map of real time air quality globally shows that 86.3% (6,491,513,043 people) of the global population are experiencing ambient air quality that does not meet the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline. In simple terms - most of the world doesn't have clean air. This has a direct effect on human beings - no matter if you are a king, president, prime minister or a common citizen, the quality of air will impact you. The resolution on clean air was approved although the language was weakened. During the negotiations I tried to bring different perspectives so the global north would look at their transboundary obligations compared to the global south, which is much poorer. It was good to see all member states coming together to make a decision on this issue.
Can you explain what the Children And Youth Major Group is and how it advocated for increased involvement and recognition of children's voices in environmental decision making processes at UNEA-6? Are there any specific initiatives or recommendations they put forward to ensure meaningful participation and representation of children's perspectives?
Kartik: Major Groups are the engagement mechanism for different stakeholders for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). There are nine Major Groups and one of them is the Children and Youth Major Group (CYMG) which facilitates children and youth engagement so their voices and recommendations can be represented under UNEP’s mandate.
For the first time, during the Global Youth Environment Assembly, we had a specific session on children's right to a healthy environment. This was a significant step forward, in addition to the creation of a children affairs working group within the CYMG. Also, when we make interventions at events we like to have children share their stories. Recently there was an International Day of Zero Waste where our online events (see here and here) had a child sharing their story.
How relevant is UNEA to children's rights and also to your own work (whether at local, national, regional or global level).
Yola: UNEA is definitely relevant to children’s rights. It’s also relevant to my work in Cape Town where my friends and I from Black Girls Rising monitor and measure the air quality from parks in townships and suburbs. Children are particularly at risk of air pollution because of their developing lungs. Many from Cape Town are exposed to air pollution on a daily basis. We haven’t used the data yet but we are going to submit it to the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights for his report on his country visit to South Africa. My work is to educate children about the importance of protecting the environment. Toxics and air pollution was mentioned a lot at UNEA so UNEA was a great opportunity to learn new things for my campaign back home.
Kartik: As a young advocate, I used to be more involved in local work, like building discourse in schools to promote critical thinking in which the environment and children’s rights were at the centre. Part of this was done under the ‘Knowledge for Nature’ campaign which reached more than 4,500 children and youth in India and nearby countries, creating awareness about children's rights and climate change. But over time, things have changed as I now have access to some of these platforms like UNEA which, if used in the right way, can impact millions of children’s lives. And so my work now revolves around improving how children's views and opinions are being presented and how to make these spaces more welcoming for children and young people. At the moment UNEA doesn’t feel as relevant to children and their rights, but there are lots of points of discussion at UNEA which could be relevant to them.
Do you have any thoughts on how well (or not) children's perspectives and rights were included in UNEA? And any recommendations on how to improve this?
Yola: I think that children’s rights perspectives were represented but it felt like youth had more power than children. We as children have our own experiences and perspectives and our own innovative ideas of how to address climate change - how to adapt to it in our communities and reduce the footprint in our homes. Our voices should be considered in many decisions that affect our future. Even though children were spoken about in some instances, children were not represented in the way they should have been. For example, it would be good to have a child speaker everytime there is a youth speaker.
Kartik: There were a few resolutions where language on vulnerable people including children was tentatively introduced. The CYMG made an intervention to gain clarity on who is included when we refer to vulnerable groups but this was not taken in, in the final text. One reason why the language is not taken might be that there is no research available on the impacts of such issues on children. We need more research, more science and facts so we can advocate for children's rights to be included. That would help significantly for the negotiations. I think this is one way civil society can come into the picture, by doing more research and collecting relevant facts to influence negotiation and ongoing discussions.
One of the speakers at the event 'Advancing the right to a healthy environment ' that we were all at together spoke about how these big global conferences can be quite privileged spaces and that we need ways for a wider group of diverse voices to be heard. Do you have any thoughts of how wider groups of children's voices can filter up to these big environmental spaces where important decisions are made?
Yola: Children are the most affected by the climate crisis. Decisions are made about the environment without including children: they don’t have a say despite these decisions affecting them. I see many ways in which their voices could be filtered up. First, youth activism and advocacy groups who can help to amplify the voices of young people and bring their concerns to the attention of decision makers. Second, there should be environmental education and campaigns that teach children about the importance of protecting the environment. Third, engaging children by doing things like planting trees. There are a lot of ways that children can be included and have their voices heard.
Kartik: When speaking at that event, I specified that children do not need to be attending negotiations themselves because it can be very stressful. So of course there should be alternative ways to have their voices incorporated into policy making. We can have child friendly dialogues directly with children and then have their priorities brought to these spaces by representatives. Another way to have children and youth voices be included is for them to take part in the Youth Environment Assembly. I have been pushing for it to be a Children and Youth Environment Assembly - that was one of my priorities although I was not successful. But we had two months of online consultation with young people in advance of the Assembly, where children were also included. The purpose of these consultations was to discuss the resolutions in a child-friendly way and get children’s inputs about how these issues affect them. We don't want child experts - we want their opinion which can then be represented by a responsible representative to the negotiations and decision-making spaces.
When it comes to children being physically present at the conference I am not opposing it. But I feel that if children do participate, their participation should be meaningful. Being meaningful means that they should be involved in advance of the conference itself, when the negotiations between States start, sometimes one month before UNEA or even before. Otherwise when children come to these spaces, all the member states have already set their priorities and at that point, they are not going to change their national and regional priorities. So the participation of children cannot have any impact.
I wanted to attend COPs and other events myself. As an under 18, I was very passionate about it actually. But when I saw what exactly goes on there, I decided not to attend until and unless I have very substantive knowledge that could feed into the process. Participating in such conferences also makes us more vulnerable at times. For example, during UNEA we were given the floor as the CYMG in a negotiation room and were asked not to make bold remarks because a state delegate expressed concerns and asked why young people were in the room. So we need to be conscious that in these spaces we can have limited access to influence things.
Were there any challenges or obstacles you encountered as a younger participant, and if so, how did you navigate them?
Yola: One challenge for me was attending a long conference - I found it tiring. However, I was patient with myself and with the process, reminding myself that I was there to learn and contribute as a voice of change. I think I was privileged to be a part of UNEA where I could stand up for, and speak on behalf of, other children. But I don’t feel that I was necessarily taken seriously - people looked at me like I was just a kid. At the event I was speaking at, I was expecting to have more people attending. Hopefully people heard what young people like me had to say - just being able to speak was the greatest opportunity.
Kartik: There are definitely challenges. One is that sometimes it is difficult to even fit in the very space dedicated to young people - the children and youth constituency. Having groups of young people who are older, with different cultures, different geographic origins with some from the global north and others from the global south - it is not always easy to find the balance and navigate the space.
When engaging with other stakeholders though, I feel that the engagement is meaningful and that there isn’t necessarily a barrier because of my young age. Once I talked with a US representative for hours and when he found out that I was 18, he was shocked. So people are mostly welcoming but with some exceptions. But we have to make sure to plan children’s engagement in advance. Otherwise it can make them more vulnerable.
How can youth be allies to children and their rights in climate/environmental and human rights spaces?
Yola: Youth can be powerful allies to us children by amplifying our voices, advocating for our rights and acting as our role models in the climate space. Youth can amplify children’s voices and stories on social media and in big spaces like UNEA and COP and push to include children’s perspectives in environmental policies. They are more advanced than us in terms of opportunities to be heard.
Kartik: I have been continuously raising this in different venues. Youth have access to a lot of avenues - because they are 18 or above they can travel alone and more easily get resources. But they are not all getting the point about the need to advocate for children. Some youth are personally driven to advocate for children's rights but not all; it might depend on their professional priorities and personal motivations. Having youth advocates for children’s rights would create a much more effective mode of communication and representation of children's voices and rights. The CYMG has a new working group on child affairs and I hope this will have a significant impact.
If you could make one single recommendation to the policy makers who are currently in charge of making decisions for children and their future, what would it be?
Yola: Create child-friendly spaces for participation and decision making that are safe for children of all ages.
Kartik: The issue is that the problems cannot be solved by one recommendation. But I'll stick to the question. So one recommendation would be that the policymaker must be more sensitive towards the subject of children. They should evaluate what consequences of each decision they make will have on children’s lives. That’s the one recommendation I would give to decision makers.
Anything else you would have liked us to ask you/that you’d like to share?
Yola: Maybe one question would be: How can children who are interested in becoming a climate activist become one? My answer would be that it all starts with yourself and by doing small changes at home and feeding yourself with information on climate issues. You can become a better child/person and live in a sustainable way, inspiring other people to follow your example.
Kartik: At this UNEA, we discussed very different issues like nature-based solutions, ocean and sea governance, clean air, solar radiation, sustainable lifestyles (which was one of the proposed resolutions by my country, India). There was climate justice, sand and dust storms, circular economy, even one resolution on armed conflicts. So I think one question that could arise is why these topics are being talked about? And what significance do these topics have for the lives of children and for the world? Answering these questions can help us when talking to member states about children's rights on these subjects. It also helps us in connecting grassroots activism with the conversations being had at UNEA, for example by having Yola come and speak about her work on clean air.
Fill in the rest of this question “In an ideal world, at these big climate/environmental spaces like COP or UNEA…”
Yola: In an ideal world, I would see more children being part of the talks and decision making. As children, our voices are critical due to our lived experiences that we can share with the people. We have innovative ideas and I believe our voices should be included in the decision making spaces as climate change is not only affecting us now but it will affect us in the future as well. Instead of older people taking decisions on our behalf we should be included - despite our younger ages we know what is good for us.
Kartik: In an ideal world, I think citizens must be a priority. Like if we have nature, we have humans. We can rebuild the economy. But if there is no peace and no human beings left, or no nature left that we can enjoy… So in an ideal world, these big environment and climate spaces like COP and UNEA would talk more about peace, more to the people, more to the citizens and more to the real things.
Learn more about CRIN’s project Children’s Access to Environmental Justice