COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (January 5, 2010) “We are prepared to give all we have as long as there is the possibility of saving our planet. We expect the same courage from you.” – closing words of the “Our World, Our Future – Children’s Climate Forum Declaration 2009.”
The Children’s Declaration was one of the key results of the Children’s Climate Forum, held in Copenhagen leading up to the official climate negotiations. Sustainability Institute’s Dominic Stucker was one of the two Lead Facilitators of this week-long event, which was organized by UNICEF and the City of Copenhagen government.
The Children’s Declaration affirms that:
“The youth in the world are ready to take action, and we request the same of governments worldwide. The time for talk is over. Now, we hold you accountable to your commitments. The challenges may appear insurmountable, yet as stakeholders, our generation is ready to collaborate in this cause.
We commit to personal lifestyle changes that place the common good above our individual desires and current way of life. We commit to educate and empower ourselves and our communities to adapt to and mitigate the changing climate. We commit to engage and actively cooperate with all generations and governments in combating climate change. As our efforts alone will not be enough, we expect our leaders and fellow citizens to cooperate.”
The Declaration goes on to make specific mitigation and adaptation recommendations to governments and was presented directly to the President of the negotiations in the Forum’s closing ceremony. As a follow up, eight Climate Ambassadors went on to observe the negotiations and participate in media and side events.
The Forum brought together 165 participants, 14-17 years old, from 44 countries, and recognized the fact that children are especially vulnerable to climate change, as documented in the Save the Children report, Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate.
The children exchanged personal stories from countries where the impacts of climate change are being felt most acutely – from Argentina to Bangladesh, Greenland to Zambia – and went on field trips to Danish sustainability projects and schools. A special highlight for the children was singing “It’s My World,” an inspiration to action, with a popular Danish music group.
Dominic, as part of the international 16-person Facilitation Team, helped integrate a visioning and systems thinking approach and brought in the often-neglected emotional side of climate change. He also shared the Climate Scoreboard with participants and organizers, developed by Sustainability Institute, MIT, and Ventana Systems. A widget that shows the state of the climate deal in real-time based on IPCC science and the C-ROADS climate model, the Scoreboard is featured on the Forum’s Unite for Climate web platform.
Importantly, participants also developed the Climate Ambassadors Program, which is designed to create a network of young climate activists, connected on the Unite for Climate platform, that empowers and trains young people to engage their local communities in the climate debate. The 20-page action plan helps translate the commitments expressed in the Declaration into local and national action projects.
“I learned a great deal from the dynamic Facilitation Team, committed organizers, and the Climate Ambassadors,” Dominic says, “and I feel inspired and hopeful about our continued efforts to work toward a sustainable future. Instead of dismay and exasperation – wondering how career negotiators can explain, after 17 years, the lack of a “fair, ambitious, and binding” climate treaty to young people – I feel a sense of grounded optimism from the younger generation.”
Read full story here: Greenopolis
Contact Dominic Stucker for more information: dstucker@sustainer.org