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Inside this Issue: The MINISTERS Arrive: Will They Act? Count the Youth Delegates, Youth Delegates Count! Will the Green Revolution Make Africa More Food Secure? Civil Society and Government Learning Event Explores the Way Forward Why haven’t CSD members ratified the UN Watercourse Convention? Nano-Scale Technologies and the Implications for the Global South |
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008Count the Youth Delegates, Youth Delegates Count!How many youngsters live in your country? How do you include them in decision making processes? What do you know about their ambitions, visions and opinions? The World Programme of Action for Youth has invited Governments to strengthen the involvement of young people through the inclusion of youth representatives in their national delegations to the UN CSD. Four countries include an official Youth Delegate in their delegations and involve them in the decision making process about sustainability. These are Belgium with 3 delegates, Canada with 1 delegate, Germany 2, the Netherlands 1 and Sweden 1. These delegates do not have a symbolic value, they are actually participating in the work of the delegations. Overall they fulfill a dual role. On the one hand they interact with youth in their home countries, gather their opinions and present it as input to their National Delegation, the Youth Caucus and the CSD. On the other hand, they take the decisions being made at the UN back to the youngsters in their home country. Youth participation is vital to the success of sustainable development. Youth up to the age of 24 comprise 65% of the Earth’s population. There are 1,2 billion people between the age of 15 and 24 worldwide. This makes youngsters the largest group of stakeholders on short-term sustainable development policies. But they are also the ones that in the future decades have to implement decisions that are being made today. That makes them the group of stakeholders on long-term sustainable development policy outcomes as well. Young people in particular have a responsibility to make changes as it literally affects and determines their own future. And as the next generation, they have the ability to change paradigms, and be the action owner for the future. What happens today, what is decided today and what is being educated today, has an effect on the opinion, opportunities and choices of future generations. Einstein said: the world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same kind of thinking that created the situation. With the borders of the earth carrying capacity in sight, we need innovative, fresh solutions. Youngsters can make an excellent contribution. Youth Delegates:
Katja Walter and Marlon Hassel, Germany
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