Young farmers harvesting crops during a training exercise in the Cook Islands (Photo: UNDP)
Youth Engagement is pivotal to climate adaptation programmes
Young people can be builders and guardians of their environment, with the right support and training
According to a recent study published by the Adaptation Fund, youth have much more to offer their communities and countries in multilevel climate action.
Specifically, youth assume several roles in adaptation projects including as builders, knowledge brokers, and community guardians and yet empowerment of young people, the report finds, still has a long way to go.
But this doesn’t stop youth from increasing engagement in adaptation efforts and the climate space more broadly.
We can look at the school climate strikes and the activism started by Greta Thunberg as an example of how important climate change matters are for young people. Adaptation has played a key role in Thunberg’s activism specifically, considering her 2019 donation to the Adaptation Fund and three other organisations of 25,000 EUR after winning the prestigious Freedom Prize.
The report found that drivers of youth engagement in Adaptation Fund projects included exposure to extreme climatic events, climate change awareness, leadership characteristics, and the readiness to learn, experiment, and develop ideas and tools.
“Where projects implement practical solutions and physical outputs youth are more likely to participate as it enhances their skills and their perception of efficacy to climate change,” says Cristina Dengel, Adaptation Fund’s knowledge management officer who led the production of the report.