At the Climate Conference, the message of young people
Today at COP25 the Day of Youth and Future Generations is celebrated. The youth of Latin America and the Caribbean have launched a document to the “big” of the world. Here is the full document.
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LAC YOUTH IN THE CONTEXT OF COP25 STATEMENT December – 5, 2019
The Latin American and Caribbean youth present at COP25, declares its first statement with in the context of this Convention. This statement was obtained through discussion, dialogue and consensus, carried out horizontally and collectively, regarding the situation our region within the climate and environmental crisis.
1. In view of the fact that our region is home to a greater part of the biodiversity existing in the world and with awareness of the environmental, cultural relevance and the value that this presents for the entire planet as a mitigation site of Climate Change, we pronounce and demand, as young people, as citizens of the world and of LatinAmerica and the Caribbean that the public, private, academia, civil society and other sectors commit themselves to act jointly with us in the protection of biodiversity.
This commitment must be crystallized through the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures in natural areas for their preservation, combined to a strong impulse of nature-based solutions, since they not only represent a great opportunity to mitigate emissions carbon, but also, promote social and environmental justice from which we all benefit.
2. We strongly reject the policies and practices that encourage the continuity of a carbon dependent economy, based on the extraction of oil, natural gas and other fossil resources for the energy and economic support of the nations that integrateLatin America and the Caribbean. We believe that nations and governments, by encouraging these practices and opening their way to their development plans and policies, not only lack their commitment to compliance with the Paris Agreement andNationally Determined Contributions, but also become a threat to their own populations and thus betray the entire region. This is because the consequences that fossil industries and economies have on the effects of climate change do not know borders, extending and affecting unevenly in different populations and countries that integrate this region.
3. We also extend a strong rejection towards extractive and environmental deterioration practices with serious socio-environmental consequences and extremely unfair to the environment and people. We especially emphasize the practices that are developed and depend directly on the intervened spaces, where the consequences represent crimes and human rights violations of people who depend on the ecosystems that these practices destroy.
4. We make a commitment and erect an uncompromising stance towards the elimination of oppressive relations with different groups of society, starting with those that exist towards groups of native people, towards women and dissidents, african – americans, migrants , among other. We recognize that it is urgent that oppression is extinguished from our territories and that it is only through a true inclusion of these groups, that we can make an effective front to solve the environmental problems that we all share. In general, we demand a stop to all forms of oppression, discrimination and exclusion of all oppressed groups, even those not explicitly mentioned in this document.
5. We demand that gender factor is incorporated when referring to climate change. Both mitigation and adaptation policies should consider the different roles and responsibilities that this structural differences represent. We must not allow climate change policies to exacerbate existing gender inequalities. On the contrary, we are presented with a great opportunity to reduce the existing gap.
6. Although we understand that young people are occupying everyday more space on the public agenda, we believe that there is still a need for us to have a real impact on decision making. We are about 20% of our region’s population and we are not properly represented in the political system. This is why we ask on one hand to be part of the international negotiating groups but also to foster the conditions so that we can fully participate in our political and parliamentary systems.
7. Our region is highly vulnerable to socio-environmental conflicts to which climate change effects have a positive feedback. For this reason, we urge the action of our governments, the companies that work in this region, society, youth, academia, intergovernmental and civil society organizations to act together to stop these negative impacts with catastrophic environmental and social consequences.
8. One of the areas that need more focus because of its vulnerability to climate change are marine ecosystems, coastal and island areas. Particularly, mangroves, coral reefs, marshes and seagrasses offer numerous benefits that contribute to the environment. It is necessary to attend and implement better conservation and protection measures for coastal areas and island areas. In addition, these systems, known as blue carbon ecosystems, are crucial carbon wells for mitigating emissions that cause climate change but are extremely scarce on the global marine surface.
9. We invite governments, youth and other parts of civil society to start building together a circular economy that decouples resource use from the growth of our region’s economies. We also require our governments to implement public policies to reduce the production of plastics, particularly single-use plastics and micro plastics.
10. We demand a reform of the food production system. The agro-industrial production model is devastating ecosystems and communities. An immediate agro-ecological and cultural transition is needed to ensure food security. We demand the stop of indiscriminate use and release of new agro toxics, deforestation, transformation of ecosystems, and the destruction of communities and animal and plant population swith the ecosystem services they provide. We propose the creation of projects for environmental recovery and sanitation of degraded areas. It is necessary to transition our diet to one that gradually reduces consumption of animal products and propose to accompany this transition with a diet based on agro ecological integral vegetables, without animal exploitation. Enough animal industrialization.
11. We must stress that both the food proposals and the generation and management ofwaste at this Conference of the Parties do not comply with the measures promoted inthis same space and in the IPCC reports. For the next meetings we see the need for this to be changed, providing many more vegetarian and vegan food options and reducing the use of disposables, particularly single-use plastics and paper.
12. We demand that all countries in the region declare the climate and ecological emergency, starting with a government-level declaration backed by an official and/or legal document. The implementation must fall heavily on the action of the administrations and local communities, contemplating in all their actions the sectors of society as a whole. These declarations must transcend words and documents and become real actions for the achievement of the Nationally Determined Contributions of each country, and the carbon-neutrality of the region towards 2050.
13. We insist on the importance of climate policy decisions that include, respect and protect human rights, and that any action taken does not result in additional damage to the most vulnerable communities, increasing the inequality that already exists in the region. We also extend our profound solidarity and support to the peoples ofBolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, who today are going through social upheavals with just citizen demands. We urge governments to immediately stop human rights violations committed in the context of repression of the legitimate social mobilization of these peoples, recognizing that the social crisis is also an ecological crisis.
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4. We strongly demand an end to murder, physical and psychological threats and all forms of violence and oppression against environmental leaders in the region. In this case, we would like to highlight the murder cases of: Julián Carrillo, indigenous leader in Chihuahua (Mexico), Luis Arturo Marroquín (Guatemala), Macarena Valdés (Chile), Arnulfo Ceron Soriano (Mexico), Berta Cáceres (Honduras), Paulo Paulino Guajajara (Brazil), among many others murdered and persecuted for their activism and tireless commitment to our struggle. For the youth of our region, the normalization and perpetuation of these cases of oppression and violence is unacceptable.
For this reason, we demand that governments and authorities initiate processes and actions that grant justice to those affected, as well as the implementation of necessary and sufficient methods of prevention to guarantee the safety of all those involved in the causes and movements of environmental protection, of protest against extractive industries and climate action. We raise our voices on behalf of all those who fought and are no longer here: Whoever fights for life never dies.
15. Therefore, we conclude with a call, a demand, a petition and an urgent proposal to the governments of the countries of the region to sign and ratify the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation andAccess to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and theCaribbean, better known as the Escazú Agreement, as soon as possible. Wedemand its immediate ratification before December 2020.
The youth of Latin America and the Caribbean present at the COP25 closes here it’s first declaration, which, it is worth mentioning, was achieved through the consensus of all the participants. Please remember that those of us who are here today in this Conference do not do so because it is a right, but because we have a great privilege, which is why we call for the continued expansion of these spaces of participation for all the youth of our countries.
