Turning up the Heat on Climate Change: How can the Youth lead the Climate Action Discourse?

Photo: C. Schubert (CCAFS)
We can no longer ignore the realities of climate change. Already, the impacts of climate change, deforestation and land degradation are leading to the extinction of species as well as the intensity and frequency of the impacts of droughts and floods, with far-reaching consequences on communities, ecosystems, food security and infrastructure.
Climate change is causing damage today, but it will be young people that pay the heavier price in years to come. Therefore, the youth need to step up in addressing the climate crisis and save the planet. Fortunately, 2019 has seen the rise of the global youth movement for climate action on a scale never seen before; and this movement has spread to Africa, which has the youngest population in the world. The scale, energy and momentum of this movement creates new opportunities that simply didn’t exist before.
In the run up to the UN Youth Climate Summit, the Gender and Social Inclusion Flagship (GSI) and the East Africa Regional Program of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), in partnership with the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) , will host a week long online discussion on the Climate & Agriculture Network for Africa (CANA) platform that will eventually culminate into a webinar on 13th September, 2019.
The online discussion will focus on the following key questions:

• How can young people get more involved in the climate action discourse and advance solutions that can make a pivotal difference for our planet’s future?
• How can young people demand urgent action from our leaders and more importantly, how can young people hold their leaders accountable for the decisions and policies that they make in relation to climate?