IKI workshop at LCOY 2024

IKI projects present examples of youth participation in climate action and adaptation measures at the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) 2024 in Berlin.

Young people are particularly affected by the impacts of climate change and the biodiversity crisis, and are taking action worldwide to ensure a just and sustainable future. YOUNGO, as the official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC, has hosted an annual Conference of Youth (COY) since 2009. This conference serves as a platform for young people to network, gain subject expertise and develop concrete proposals for COP events.

National conferences – called ‘Local Conference of Youth’ (LCOY) – are also organised. At LCOYs, young people come together to shape the future together, and develop ideas for a sustainable and greener world. Each LCOY then submits its collective results to the global COY.

Since 2021, IKI has been represented at Germany’s annual LCOY, where it offers an exciting programme of presentations and workshops. On Saturday, 26 October 2024, IKI partner organisations ICLEI and the Wuppertal Institute presented projects at LCOY in Berlin on topics such as the just energy transition and community-based climate resilience in the context of youth participation. Entitled ‘Real-World Solutions from Argentina and Kiribati’, the event attracted 25 young participants interested in gaining insights into the wide-ranging work of the IKI and its partners.

Inspiring discussions about IKI projects

The IKI session used an interactive workshop format that allowed participants to engage deeply with the presentation and the projects. Participants had plenty of opportunities to get involved, raise questions and contribute their own ideas. This fostered a lively dialogue and inspired new approaches to tackling current challenges in climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.

YouthEnergy in Argentina

Dr Willington Ortiz, a researcher at the Wuppertal Institute, presented the three main components of the YouthEnergy project in Argentina, which is being implemented in partnership with two Argentine NGOs, 500RPM and the Siemens Foundation Argentina. A key aspect of the project is the provision of innovative, project-based educational materials to more than 24 technical colleges in the country. These materials introduce students to the key concepts and principles of climate change and the just energy transition.

In the Q&A session that followed the presentation, the young participants were particularly interested in how the project works with NGOs and local youth organisations, the political context and selection of project regions, and the role of a just energy transition in these various regions.

Blue-green development in South Tarawa, Kiribati

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific are bearing the impacts of climate change. Introducing this IKI project, ICLEI showed how its resilience framework is being used to develop community-based climate and Covid resilience plans for two city administrations in South Tarawa, Kiribati.

In the interactive workshop that followed, participants worked in small groups to develop measures for one of the two districts, to respond to the risks and vulnerabilities identified by the communities. One of the ideas proposed by the young participants was the use of mangroves to protect the coastline and to restore fish populations. To adress the challenge of providing fresh water with a limited land surface area, another group developed the idea of using floating water storage facilities. Tim Lazaroff, Global Projects team at ICLEI, praised the creative proposals of the young participants, and emphasised that addressing these challenges means providing space for inspiring, blue-sky thinking before implementing new solutions.