Climate Reparations for my generation

Global warming, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, water stress, ocean acidification, food insecurity, and planetary overshoot are all threatening our planet. The world has reached a tipping point in the climate crisis, the continued actions of the Global North are destroying the lives of many generations.

Adolescents and young people (aged 10-24) presently make up 1.8 billion people, or 24% of the world population, with the majority residing in poor and middle-income nations exposed to catastrophic climate change. Despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions in the past, present and future, generations of young people will face the burden of climate change. 

We are the generation that will have to deal with more severe climate impacts than any other, and we are already experiencing the consequences. Our children will experience calamities on an unprecedented scale. On behalf of young people from all across the world, we demand that the inaction on climate-related loss and destruction that threatens to end our futures.

Our top priority in the run-up to the upcoming UN Climate Summit COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November, is loss and damage financing. Before we can pursue adaptation, we must first assist communities that have suffered loss and damage. We are not asking for charity or debt from developed countries, but rather reparations for their historical legacy in the climate crisis.

Photo: Courtesy

My country Bangladesh is at the forefront of recognising the climate crisis as a 'Planetary Emergency'. A new World Bank Group's Country and Climate Development Report for Bangladesh predicts that climate change will hit poor and vulnerable people the hardest. Average tropical cyclones cost Bangladesh about one billion dollars annually. By 2050, a third of agricultural GDP could be lost. 

In case of severe flooding, GDP could fall by as much as 9%. Over 13 million people could become internal climate migrants and 18% of cropland can shrink in Southern Bangladesh by 2050 due to climate change impacts. 

Vulnerable countries like Bangladesh should not have to carry the burden of climate change alone. For too long, major emitting countries have denied their responsibility for the suffering they are causing. This must end. They cannot keep doing business as usual while greenwashing with empty climate summits. The major greenhouse-emitting countries have a clear obligation under international law to provide funding to help highly vulnerable countries like Bangladesh recover from the impacts of climate change. 

Youth participation in climate action is an undeniable component of inclusivity. Recent landmark wins, such as the UN Resolutions recognising the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and establishing a new UN Youth Office, have confirmed the triumphs of young people's advocacy. 

Furthermore, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) this year has a COP27 Youth Envoy and, for the first time, an official Children and Youth Pavilion at COP27 underlining the institutional commitment to meaningful youth involvement.

However, most country delegations and negotiation processes exclude young people. Youth must have a voice about their future. Governments must incorporate children and youth representatives in national delegations to COP27 and future COPs to guarantee that young people have a say in their future.

Unfortunately, young people encountered significant challenges in obtaining UNFCCC accreditation, sponsorship, and visas. After a week-long struggle at the Egyptian Embassy in Dhaka, I witnessed a Bangladeshi youth group being denied their visa to attend the Conference of the Youth (COY).

On the other hand, just 34% of the 103 nations having new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in 2021 were youth responsive. Similarly, young people are barely addressed in 27% of catastrophe risk reduction pledges. With the clock ticking on climate change, we urgently need to adopt rights-based NDCs and other climate policies to strengthen the resilience of those most vulnerable to climate change, especially young people.

The largest environmental movement in history has been led by young people. Yet youth climate movements received only 0.76% of global climate philanthropic funding in 2019-2021! It is time to invest more in youth-led networks and movements to continue their activism and actions. Young people must speak up and ensure that our voices reach the leaders at the table. We are capable of designing game-changing innovations, and we are worth investing in. If we are to make a difference in people's lives, we must invest actual cash and have faith in what we are doing. 

Are we just supposed to hold placards? Is it only about organising protests and generating slogans? The answer is no. Youths are doing tremendous work in the climate justice sector while having minimal resources due to systemic barriers.  

We are aiming to make it easier for young people to comprehend how the social and environmental agenda affects their everyday lives and communities, including by simplifying the jargon around climate catastrophe. Resolving the situation through new ideas and positive engagement with the government and lawmakers. We are taking action at the local level and calling for national and global responsibility.

Growing youth-led movements; like the Fridays for Future movement, the Children and Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC, YouthNet for Climate Justice and other youth-led movements; are advocating for the recognition and implementation of vulnerable population groups' rights to participate in climate negotiation processes while ensuring equality and non-discrimination.

Furthermore, youth-led civil society protests and lawsuits filed in national courts in Australia, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, India, Pakistan, and South Korea represent tangible mechanisms for holding governments and other stakeholders accountable. Adolescents and youth are ensuring community access to climate information through social media climate mobilisation campaigns.

We can observe that the progress made in prior COPs has been fairly minimal. COP26 abandoned youth and vulnerable communities. It demonstrated that world leaders are not addressing climate change as a global emergency. Unfortunately, we are presently seeing one environmental disaster after another – recently, major floods hit Pakistan, as well as floods and a cyclone in Bangladesh.

The COP26 presidency asked that state parties submit new climate plans and nationally determined contributions because the previous ones were insufficiently ambitious and would not reduce emissions to the extent required to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius targets. However, only 23 of the nearly 200 countries that signed the Glasgow Climate Pact have submitted enhanced NDCs. Instead of strengthening headline targets, the majority of these provided more policy detail. 

Climate change cannot be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. At COP27, a dose of reality is required. If we miss the 1.5 degrees Celsius targets (which we will), the next target is 1.51 degrees Celsius rather than 2 degrees Celsius. Each fraction of a degree Celsius counts! We need enhanced climate plans from all parties involved to ensure that the climate crisis is addressed effectively. 

In 2019, developed countries pledged $100 billion towards adaptation and mitigation, but they have not disbursed this. Everything at this point is theoretical – no practical mechanism has been put in place to ensure the money is paid. And when the funds finally come, we would like to see a 50/50 split between adaptation and mitigation, because both require equal efforts. 

Finally, we would like to see the financing of locally-led adaptation addressed at COP27. Communities should be given a platform to develop and implement solutions that will work for them, rather than implementing universal strategies that do not fit everybody. 

We urge governments, corporations, international organisations, and other stakeholders to listen to young people's urgent calls for climate justice and to co-create policies on climate adaptation, mitigation, and finance with young people that prioritise those most vulnerable to climate change, with concrete implementation mechanisms. Investing in young people and prioritising their resilience to climate change will have a triple impact: now, in adulthood, and for the next generation. 

Failure to invest in the well-being of young people will jeopardise society's progress toward climate resilience. If world leaders use hypocrisy less and invest more, COP27 could be a watershed moment for vulnerable peoples' human rights and climate justice. This COP should shift the focus to implementation. We no longer want to hear promises that will not be kept. We want action to solve our problems, and we want them now!