The Role of Youth in Mitigating Climate Risk

Climate change poses a major threat to economic growth and human livelihoods. Climate risk is the potential of climate change to produce adverse consequences for human well-being, such as deaths, displacements and illnesses. The intensification of climate change may cause the predominately internal migration of up to 216 million persons by 2050 in the worst-case temperature scenario of the World Bank’s latest Groundswell Report. The direct effects of climate change that manifests locally through damage of property and a drop in agricultural yields can also spillover across regions and sectors due to the interconnected nature of socio-economic and financial systems. For example, tensions around land use and access to natural resources arose in Mali due to changing patterns of rainfall, cultivation and human settlement responsible for climate migration in recent years. According to US estimates, climate-related damages have led to $2.2 trillion losses since 1980 which is expected to escalate in future. Climate change risks compel to migrate which impinge upon the collective capacity to curb losses through effective resource mobilisation. The seeming incapacity to manage impending disasters lead to climate anxiety and distress, particularly among young people. 

Youth are not only victims of climate change but are also the harbingers of climate action. With a growing youth population, young people are the most vulnerable section of society who are forced to migrate, thereby causing displacements due to extreme weather disasters, nutritional deficiencies and communicable diseases spread from the environment. 

The UNICEF reports that displacements due to extreme weather events between 2016 and 2021 included millions of children who left their homes because of floods (e.g., Bangladesh), storms (e.g., Philippines) and droughts (e.g., Somalia). As a result, the youth have been actively voicing their concerns about climate change risks with the same urgency as any other emergency. For instance, youth activists affiliated with the Sunrise movement recognise this imminent climate catastrophe as they unite across race and class to push for Green New Deal. Besides, the youth messages from Kampala Conference on Migration, Environment and Climate Change led to the adoption of the first Africa Youth Declaration for Climate Mobility at COP27. While a historic case of UN Human Rights Committee ruled in favour of individuals seeking asylum from the effects of climate change, countries are developing action plans to implement Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Such actions drive the youth to be the torchbearers in the fight against climate change risks, especially displacements. For instance, the ESCAP Youth Voices for Climate Action (YV4C4) campaign provides an inclusive platform for youth in the Asia-Pacific region to make their voices heard on climate action and sensitize decision-makers about the gravity of the climate emergency. Likewise, young climate leaders from more than 140 countries came together during the UN Youth Climate Summit ahead of COP27 to share possible solutions on a global stage. Notwithstanding this, the climate crisis imperils youth to grow up in an increasingly vulnerable environment as their health, education, nutrition, development, survival, and future are increasingly threatened by climate-induced displacements.

Climate displacement is an extreme manifestation of climate injustice. Young people’s demand to deliver climate justice, acknowledging the grim scenario ahead, banks on three critical pillars: stakeholder activism, integrating green initiatives into growth imperatives, and upgrading technology for climate risk adaptation and mitigation.

The first pillar of stakeholder activism involves persistent advocacy and lobbying by young people, jeopardised by climate risk to gain greater legitimacy, involvement, and leadership in climate action. Consequently, stakeholder activism can be the driving force for businesses and governments to act voluntarily and become more transparent by disclosing climate change related information. There are numerous forms of stakeholder activism that the youth can engage in. The easiest form, perhaps, is to participate in detailed negotiations with influential organisations that entail raising issues, extensive deliberations and debating recommendations to attain a common ground.

If policymakers do not offer legitimacy to youth for climate action, they can use the media for publicity campaigns to highlight their concerns and seek swift action. In extreme cases of climate distress, youth can also pursue legal actions against parties involved, which can severely damage their reputation in the long run. A contemporary example is the landmark lawsuit won by a group of youth against the state of Montana, thereby rendering the approval or renewal of fossil fuel projects without accounting for climate change as unconstitutional. These steps can coerce the decision-makers to address youth’s climate-related problems and ensure proactive actions such as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) established in 2018 as the first UN agreement to guide governments in effectively managing climate migration. In the last decade, the Indian state of Maharashtra experienced 7-fold increase in droughts and 6-fold increase in floods and cyclones, resulting in disruption, distress and displacement of youth.

A recent case study from this state aptly describes how advocacy, awareness and policy negotiations by youth activists fosters superior planning and reporting of climate action and creates a knowledge-sharing mechanism between youth from different agroclimatic zones and climate experts. UNICEF-led Maha Youth for Climate action (MYCA) reached 350 young people in Maharashtra where youth do not have any say in climate related policies, despite constituting more than half of the state’s population. MYCA adopted a three-pronged approach consisting of district-level presentations and preparation of action plans by youth, implementation of these localised plans and sharing on social media to amplify and motivate youth-led actions, and conducting workshops that help youth to understand government administrative practices and systems, climate related policy schemes and the interface between them and policymakers. The MYCA programme produced transformative results that includes integration of climate action plans into school-level curricula, development of apps like ‘Cool the Globe’ to measure emission savings on executing climate action, and empowering youth through platforms like ‘Youth Parliamentarians’ for inputs to policymakers and decision-makers. Hence, it designed channels to connect government with youth on climate agenda.

The second pillar is to promote green growth through sustainable development initiatives. Although the vision sounds great, the challenge of going green lies in the skyrocketing costs of environmental compliance and reconciling the opposing considerations of economic, social and environmental well-being. The transition towards green growth is critical for the climate crisis and depends on equipping youth with green skills. Young people act as catalysts in green transition that can create 8.4 million jobs for them by 2030 if they acquire skills to thrive in a green economy. Green skills include technical knowledge, expertise and abilities that enable the effective use of green technologies and processes in professional settings.

Green transition requires combating the challenges in youth’s access to opportunities for development of green skills. For instance, the European Union’s shift towards green transportation modes is witnessing green talent concentration in the sector. Similarly, the United States is moving away from oil and gas into the renewables and environment sector by hiring young talent with green skills. Some of the fastest-growing sustainable transportation skills cover electric vehicles, energy storage, and battery management systems. Hence, upskilling and reskilling the young workforce will accelerate the green transition and create new opportunities to mitigate climate risk. This ‘green-reintegration approach’ recently piloted in Senegal helped climate migrants get training in green agroforestry and build sustainable incomes.

The third pillar, technology, an integral element in the fight against climate change, serves as the third pillar. Technologies used to address climate risk are called climate technologies which help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, forecast disasters, and develop climate-resilient agricultural methods, among others. More recently, the tracking of climate-induced migrants and refugees has become common, especially in the UK, United States and Europe, with the increasing use of biometrics and surveillance technologies alongside social media monitoring and cell-phone data extraction.

Since a major chunk of the youngest segment of the population is growing up in regions where the effects of climate change will be hit the hardest, youth-led efforts for the development of innovative climate adaptation technologies within their communities can make a huge difference, even a life-saving one. For example, the shortage of natural resources coupled with precarious living environments has facilitated the transition towards using low-carbon and recycled building materials instead of cement and concrete used traditionally. Cultivating and leveraging youth capital can galvanise technology penetration and mobilisation locally.

A representative case of mobilising local youth to allay food security concerns is the infomediary campaign by the Rice Research Institute in Philippines. In this campaign, the youth serve as information providers to small-scale farmers by virtue of digital agricultural technologies. In a similar vein, artificial intelligence and machine learning based agricultural risk management services are imparted by AgriPredict, a start-up of young climate entrepreneurs from Zambia. Such climate entrepreneurship initiatives also empower youth by yielding employment. Thus, upgrading technologies and fostering innovation among young people aids climate adaptation.

Climate risk necessitates the involvement and leadership of young people in addressing climate inequalities. Efforts such as the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative and the Rising Nations Initiative seek to galvanise action that will empower the youth to face climate change, prevent their displacements and shape resilient adaptation journeys. Yet, responsible climate behaviour and stronger political will at a superior scale and speed is sought from governments and the private sector. A systemic change to enhance intergenerational solidarity is essential to tackle structural barriers, as underlined on International Youth Day. This recognition made countries prioritise youth in developing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through consultations, raising awareness and advocacy campaigns. Nonetheless, youth uprooted by climate change often have few options to move safely and legally across borders because migration laws are unconducive for protecting the rights of environmental migrants. Hence, much still needs to be done to deliver climate justice for future generations as migration continues to be an adaption strategy for pursuing better opportunities, diversifying skills and contributing to the destination. The three pillars of youth activism, green skilling, and innovative technology solutions to fight climate change will ensure that the growing apprehensions of young people regarding their displacement are obliterated. Appropriate policy responses can transform climate-induced youth migration from a challenge into an opportunity. With this hope, a holistic framework for protecting youth rights in global climate agreements is a pressing priority to act as a barrier against climate change related fears, anxiety, and distress.

Abhishek HALDER is an researcher at the Indian Institute of Management Raipur. He holds a post-graduate diploma in banking and financial services from International Management Institute New Delhi and an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from National Institute of Technology Warangal. He served on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India as a Research Associate Intern in 2018 and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad as an Academic Associate in 2019-20. He has been a Policy in Action Fellow for Young Leaders for Active Citizenship, Student Ambassador for Clean India Campaign and a Global Ambassador for the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme. He has published research articles in academic journals and presented his research at national and international conferences. His research interests encompass corporate bankruptcy, geopolitical risk, and climate risk. Being affected by the Tsunami on 26th December 2004, he appreciates the risk that unexpected climate events pose to the livelihoods of the youth. 

This article is part of the IOM Blog Series: Youth Voices on Migration, Environment and Climate Change

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