6 November 2015: Participants at the Ninth UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Youth Forum, held on the theme ‘Young Global Citizens for a Sustainable Planet,’ agreed on a series of recommendations on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Forum aimed to ensure that voices of future generations remain front and center in the 2030 Agenda.

“You are the future,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova told participants in an opening address, stressing that the challenges of societies, from unemployment and poverty to climate change impacts “are not the future.” She underscored the core responsibility of youth as members of a generation that “can end poverty… that can stop climate change.” The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, called for youth to help ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) become a reality, urging particular effort on girls’ and women’s empowerment and climate change. Alhendawi also highlighted the importance of education, science and culture as critical for innovation and technology for all.

The recommendations emerging from the Forum address: rights, freedoms and responsibilities; diversity and identity; learning, personal development and sustainability; knowledge, awareness and media; local practices, biodiversity and prevention of natural disasters; and the energy of youth.

The Forum recommends setting up an online community for governments, international organizations and local organizations to share positive stories and data on biodiversity protection, adaptation to disasters and preservation of knowledge and practices. Such a platform, it suggests, could promote crowdfunding and kickstarters for innovative projects that preserve biodiversity, enhance disaster-risk preparedness and encourage capacity building in local communities.

The Forum also acknowledged climate “as a co-existing cultural heritage,” and recognized the relationship between mitigation and adaptation and the preservation of local knowledge and cultures. Participants committed themselves to promoting an active and healthy sustainable lifestyle and to involve themselves in implementing and monitoring the SDGs.

Forum participants presented their recommendations at the Opening Plenary of UNESCO’s 38th General Conference, which is convening from 3-18 November 2015, in Paris, France. The recommendations from the Forum will also be presented at the Paris Climate Change Conference, the Conference of Youth and the Commonwealth Conference of Youth.

Over 500 youth from around the world attended the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum, which convened in Paris, France, from 26-28 October. [UNESCO Press Release, 5 November] [UNESCO Press Release, 26 October] [Recommendations] [General Conference Website]