Global Youth Climate Summit set to kick off in Bangladesh on Thursday

Global Youth Leadership Centre, an international non-profit organisation, is all set to embark on its journey from Bangladesh on October 20 with the inauguration of its first programme -- the Global Youth Climate Summit.

The three-day summit will be held at Ava Centre in Khulna, one of Bangladesh's most climate-vulnerable regions, bringing together 650 youths from 70 countries to explore how today's youth can lead the fight against climate change, a release said.

Some 150 people between 18 and 24 years of age are expected to participate directly and 500 virtually.

Addressing the media in Dhaka on Tuesday, Ejaj Ahmad, the founder and chief executive officer of Global Youth Leadership Centre, said, "Climate change is the biggest crisis facing humanity today. To address a complex challenge like climate change, we will all have to work globally and at scale."

"Our mission is to expand the youth's knowledge about climate science, equip them with leadership skills to take individual and collective action, and enable them to launch businesses that contribute to climate mitigation or adaptation," he said.

To empower the youth to take climate action, he said 10 delegates at the summit will receive a grant of $1,000 each to implement their climate mitigation or adaptation project.

The organisation's chairman, Neal Walker, said, "Young people not only demand climate change action, they lead the way."

He said that leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship all offer avenues of success. "But we need action at a global level. Our organisation can transform the idealism, ideas and talents of youth all over the world into results," he added.

Grameenphone's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Hans Martin Hoeg Henriksen, Tahsinah Ahmed, executive director of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre and young climate activists -- Sohanur Rahman and Shakila Islam -- also spoke at the press conference.