Bangladeshi-led youth organisations spotlighted at COP30 panel

The Global Youth Leadership Centre (GYLC) and Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre (BYLC) convened a high-profile panel at COP30's SDG Pavilion today, bringing together youth climate leaders from Bangladesh, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States to highlight how education-driven innovation can accelerate locally led climate adaptation and SDG progress.

The panel, entitled "Educating for Climate Action: Youth-Led Innovation from the Belo Horizonte Declaration to SDG Implementation", showcased BYLC's sixteen-year record of cultivating transformative young leaders in Bangladesh and GYLC's emerging global platform that mobilises youth climate action in more than forty countries.

"To address the climate crisis, we need long-term thinking and the ability to work across borders and boundaries," said Ejaj Ahmad, founder and CEO of both organisations, who moderated the session. "Youth are uniquely positioned to offer this leadership. With the right platform and support, young people accomplish extraordinary things."

Speakers discussed pathways for translating the Belo Horizonte Youth Climate Declaration into community-level action. The declaration was produced by 200 youth from 39 countries at GYLC's Global Youth Climate Summit 2025 and delivered to Brazil's Environment Minister, Marina Silva, as official youth input for COP30.

"The Belo Horizonte Youth Declaration represents young people creating a unified global vision for climate action," said Holly Harwood, co-creator of the declaration. "Minister Marina Silva's acceptance of it showed how youth voices can move from grassroots organising to informing policy. This is a blueprint for how youth leadership can shape global climate negotiations."

Bangladeshi climate activist Sohanur Rahman called for genuine youth inclusion: "We must move beyond tokenistic participation to meaningful involvement of young people in shaping climate policy and finance in the Global South. Our communities have the solutions — we need the power and resources to implement them."

Panellists highlighted innovations emerging from GYLC's global network:
– In Mexico, Jimena Arzate uses education to strengthen gender equality and climate resilience in rural communities.
– In Brazil, GYLC Youth Climate Champion, Andressa Reis, launched a children's climate change book at COP30 with seed funding from GYLC.
– Elisa Santos Soares presented Feira Feliz, a community-driven model for urban food security.

The discussion underscored the six themes of the Belo Horizonte Declaration—climate education, youth leadership, green entrepreneurship, locally led adaptation, inclusion and equity, and global partnerships—which guide both GYLC's global programming and BYLC's work in Bangladesh.

Speakers noted that SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 13 (climate action), and SDG 17 (partnerships) are deeply interconnected, and that GYLC and BYLC serve as catalysts across all three by investing in youth leadership and education.

GYLC and BYLC's presence at COP30 highlights how Bangladeshi-led organisations are shaping global climate discourse while maintaining strong engagement with one of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations.