We are #All4Climate: Addressing climate change impacts on adolescent well-being

by Helga Fogstad, Bhavya Nandini, Consultant and AYC Coordinator at PMNCH and Giulia Gasparri, Consultant and Climate Change Focal Point at PMNCH?

“There is no one climate change, there is no one social crisis, there is no one gender equality crisis, there is no one economic crisis … these are all interconnected and require a multisectoral response.”

These words resonated with us. They were spoken on 24 September 2021 by a bright young woman, Julieta Martinez, Founder of Tremendas Collaborative Platform and Co-founder of Latinas for Climate, during a virtual event organized by PMNCH in partnership with the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change , Y-PEER , CORE Group and Countdown to 2030 .

The event focused on “Adolescents & youth taking charge: Action on climate change for their well-being”. It was a deeply enriching experience as young leaders, like Julieta, highlighted the need for us all to come out of our silos and launch multisectoral responses, design policies and make investments, bearing in mind that our actions today will have consequences tomorrow, especially for future generations and our ecosystem.

The event was a step in this direction, as PMNCH and partners came together to draw attention to the links between climate change and adolescent well-being.

Adolescents must be at the centre of the climate change agenda

All around the world, adolescents and young people have become key actors in climate change action, holding governments, global leaders and the international community accountable for the rapid increase in global carbon emissions and the lack of ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation policies.

Today’s cohort of adolescents is the largest the world has ever known. It consists of 1.2 billion young people aged 10–19 years, accounting for nearly 16% of the world's population . While earlier generations are responsible for causing the current climate crisis, it is young people and future generations who will experience the greatest burden of climate change, both physically and psychologically .

Intergenerational injustice … is what we are witnessing.

As the WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission stated, climate change is a threat multiplier for children’s health and well-being. Its consequences, including food insecurity and loss of infrastructure due to extreme weather events, threaten children’s rights (set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child ) to education, food, health and recreation. Climate change affects all domains of adolescents’ well-being . Those living in low- and middle-income countries, humanitarian and fragile settings and small-island developing states suffer the most severe human rights violations due to climate-induced displacement, conflict, dysnutrition and sea-level rise, despite having made the lowest contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions.

?#All4Climate programme in preparation for COP26

The event was part of the flagship All4Climate Italy 2021 programme in the lead up to the 26th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) which will be held in Glasgow in November 2021. Italy also hosted the preparatory ministerial meeting (PreCOP) and "Youth4Climate2021: Driving Ambition”, the international event dedicated to young people, in Milan from 28 September to 2 October.

Take-home messages from the event

The event drew attention to the critical interlinkages between the climate crisis and adolescent well-being, and how ?young people should be engaged in advancing this agenda. A stellar musical performance by the indigenous Brazilian rappers Kaê Guajajara and Kandu Puri opened the event, reminding the audience of the devastating consequences COVID-19 has had on indigenous populations’ health and biodiversity.

An invigorating high-level panel, moderated by Omnia El Omrani of the?International Federation of Medical Students Associations, included youth health activists, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, global health leaders and researchers. The speakers drew attention to the need to include young people’s voices in decision-making, as outlined in the Global Consensus Statement on Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement , and to shape policies that ensure the inclusion of adolescent well-being in the climate change agenda. The Knowledge Brief: Young People’s Fight Against Climate Change is a great tool to engage adolescents, young people and youth-led organizations who are already involved in the health arena and to increase their awareness and knowledge of the intersection between climate change and health.

The urgency of tackling the health consequences of climate change was also a key take-home message from the panel discussion.

?“While the COVID-19 crisis has seen rapid government response in many countries, the same cannot be said for the climate crisis, as leaders are failing to recognize the profound existential threats that climate change poses to human health”, reiterated the Rt Hon Helen Clark.

As we dove deeper into the breakout session, we had the opportunity to witness young leaders and researchers provide their critical ideas, spotlighting the three priorities of the Call to Action for Adolescents : engaging and empowering adolescents; ensuring a multisectoral response to adolescents’ well-being and climate change; and strengthening political commitments and investments.

Personally, we are worried by the lack of policies for and investments in adolescent well-being, and about the absence of this topic from policy formulation on climate adaptation. While global leaders and the international community have finally started to include youth voices in decision-making (although too often in a tokenistic way) they are still failing to target policies and investments at improving adolescent well-being, especially in light of the increasing climate change impacts. This must be changed!

As next step, we hope to see you at COP26 Health Pavilion for our PMNCH side-event where we are further drawing attention to 'Building?adolescents’?resilience?to?climate?change:?Prioritizing?adolescents’?well-being?in?climate?adaptation’. The event is slated for 10 November. Further details can be found here .

Climate change continues to threaten the health, well-being and rights of women, children and adolescents. We firmly believe that it must remain central to PMNCH’s agenda so as to avoid the elimination of decades of improvements in global health.

?????????????