Pro-Environmental Change: Youth Perspective and Actions
Discussion details
The current largest young generation in history has the power and ambition to contribute to pro-environmental change, but are often wondering “how”? You(th) can indirectly contribute to sustainable change by using social media communication to raise awareness or choose where to put the money and start a green bank account. You(th) can also engage directly at the EU or UN Level and become a Young European Ambassador or join one of the activities organized by the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. You can find more ideas and guidance on how to effectively engage in the Toolkit on Pro-Environmental Youth Engagement, developed under the Youth Empowerment and Training Initiative programme (YETI).
Pro-Environmental Change: Youth Perspective and Actions, Brussels, 2022
On Friday, October 21st, 2022 youth mentees from the ACP MEAs 3 Youth Empowerment and Training Initiative (YETI) launched their “Toolkit on Pro-Environmental Youth Engagement” during a hybrid event hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) office in Brussels. Around 90 people from all over the world were connected online or attended in-person.
The toolkit provides concrete hands-on guidance by youth-to-youth on different ways to take environmental actions and contribute to behavioural change.
Before the youth author's presentation of the toolkit, welcome remarks opened the event, with speakers from UNEP, European Commission’s Directorate General for International Partnerships, The Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States’ Senior Officer Environment and Climate Action, and Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Multilateral Environmental Agreements 3 Programme’ Global Programme Manager.
In her introductory remarks, Veronika Hunt Safrankova, Head of UNEP Brussels Office, welcomed the toolkit as an important contribution to addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. She emphasised the importance of behavioural change and individual engagement that can be undertaken on the four different levels identified in the toolkit: individual, regional, international and governmental settings.
The European Union and the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) fully support the YETI programme and indicated that they are keen for the programme to continue with possibilities of additional support. Aurelie Godefroy, Deputy Head of Unit C2 – Environment, Natural Resources, Water, of the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) emphasized that engagement with youth is a priority for the European Commission and that it is pursuing a long-term relationship with youth to make them more influential in decision making processes. The initiative coincides with the 2022 European Year of Youth.
Following the introductions, eight youth authors from the YETI Alumni in Europe delivered a hybrid presentation of the Toolkit, which reflected 5-months of deliberate work and preparation. The team of presenters consisted of French, Austrian, Azerbaijan and German participants between 18-23 years old: Anna Roser Prasser, Lars Basset, Anaelle Barthel, Paul M. Bucholz, Charline Luck, Theresa Schlosser, Lili Vessereau and Aysu Ahmad.
Background on YETI and the creation of the Toolkit
Original authors of the Toolkit, YETI Alumni: Anna Prasser, Lars Basset, Anaelle Barthel, Paul Bucholz; Louise Dorner, UNEP; Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati, UNEP, ACP MEAs 3 Global Programme Manager
"The current largest young generation in history has the power to contribute to pro-environmental change and shape the future we will be living in. They have the essential skills to protect the environment: they hold the necessary idealism and zeal. They have (not yet) been trapped in the comfort of habits and familiar structures and have the creativity and energy to engage in pro-environmental change. In the aftermath of this pandemic, it is essential to not fall back to business as usual but rethink the habits and structures causing this environmental crisis and engage in pro-environmental change.” - YETI Alumni expressed their message behind the Toolkit. Members of YETI Alumni come from various European countries, such as Austria, France, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and Azerbaijan.
UNEP, ACP MEAs 3 Global Programme Manager and conceiver of the YETI Programme, Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati, explained that the overall objective of the Youth Empowerment and Training Initiatives (YETI) in Europe by UNEP-EU’s Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Multilateral Environmental Agreements 3 Programme (ACP MEAs 3) was to empower a pool of 16 selected youth with sufficient expertise and skills to become influencers and youth leaders capable to train, support and empower other young people and provide inputs to global, national and local positions on pro-environmental behaviour, management and governance.
As they have explained, growing up in Europe they have experienced that many of their peers have the ambition to contribute to pro-environmental change, but are often wondering “how?”. Therefore, they decided to translate all the expertise and insights gained throughout the programme into this common toolkit, to provide hands-on guidance on different ways to take environmental actions and contribute to behavioural change for other young people.
Pro-Environmental Youth Engagement Toolkit
The Pro-Environmental Youth Engagement Toolkit provides hands-on guidance on how to take sustainable action and contribute to pro-environmental change on four different levels without necessarily requiring many resources at hand: an individual, local & national, international and (social-media) communication level.
More specifically the toolkit contains these four focal areas:
1. Tips for behavioural changes towards a more sustainable lifestyle at home
2. How to take sustainable actions in your community, school, university or country
3. Engaging in pro-environmental change on an EU- and international level
4. Leading pro-environmental change through effective (social media) communication
Each chapter of the toolkit covers one level of pro-environmental behaviour change. Whether you are a young individual looking for easy ways for a more sustainable lifestyle at home or want to initiate environmental change in your schools or universities, this toolkit will provide you with a comprehensive list of steps you need to take. Some of the examples of behavioural change and useful tips from the first chapter can be particularly relevant to readers in relation to the ongoing energy crisis.
Looking at the future
Anaelle Barthel, YETI Alumni; Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati, UNEP, Global Program Manager of ACP MEAs 3
During the discussion on youth engagement, ACP MEAs 3’ colleagues and partners from other regions, including Margaret Oduk, Head a.i, UN Environment Programme Liaison Office to AUC, UNECA and Representative to Ethiopia, and Theuri Mwangi, Project Officer, Nairobi Convention Secretariat, UN Environment, emphasized that although the toolkit is particularly targeting youth (& related stakeholders) in Europe, they are convinced that it can be informative for a larger geographical audience. ACP MEAs 3’ regional partners expressed their aspiration to adapt the toolkit for use in other regions outside of Europe in the future, with the help of the original authors of the toolkit and youth from those regions.
In the closing remarks, Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati, UNEP, ACP MEAs 3 Global Programme Manager and conceiver of the YETI Programme, revealed that the Youth Engagement and Training Initiative programme (YETI) plans to focus on the Caribbean and Pacific regions and collaborations with relevant partners in the future. Dr. Balakrishna rose awareness on other youth engagement-related work by the ACP MEAs 3 Programme: the YETI Alumni network and the work on youth engagement and participation at COP 15 involving youth from African, Caribbean and Pacific regions in collaboration with Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat He mentioned the MEAs 3’s plan to roll out YETI in the Pacific with a focus on Education in the Caribbean and the link between climate and biodiversity. He appealed to each one of the YETI Alumni to consciously plan to influence 5 youths in 2023, which according to his opinion, programme.
Pro-Environmental Youth Engagement – starts now!
Anna Prasser, YETI Alumni
In case you want to take part in empowering young people to start taking action, as well as other “adult” stakeholders to engage young people more on issues related to the environment, you could help disseminate the toolkit among your (youth) networks. Even though this toolkit is particularly targeting youth (& related stakeholders) in Europe, it can be informative for a larger (geographical) audience.
The Toolkit is free to be downloaded, used and shared here
Watch the recording of the event here
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