YOUNGO: It’s official

On the eve of international climate negotiations at COP17, the international youth climate movement received official recognition at the seventh Conference of Youth in Durban.

YOUNGO, the constituency representing youth NGOs from around the world, was awarded full constituency status, increasing its influence within the climate negotiations.

The status empowers young people at a time when youth involvement in combating climate change has never been more urgent.

For Sebastien Duyck, who has been involved with YOUNGO from its inception at the 2007 Bali COP13, while the full status doesn’t come as a surprise, the decision is empowering for international youth.

“The full status has a lot of symbolic value, and secures our future within the UNFCCC,” he said.

The status secures a number of rights within the UNFCCC for young people, enabling them to engage more with the climate negotiations. YOUNGO will now officially be able to hold bilateral meetings with other official groups an d bodies within the convention, receive a speaking spot at the high level segment of the COP, more chances to make statements during plenaries and receive office space at COPs.

This will all enable YOUNGO to give unique youth orientated feedback to parties of the convention on climate change.

Previously, YOUNGO had been working under a provisional status, during which it had to prove to the rest of the UNFCCC and civil society that it could be a valuable and powerful force within the negotiations.

While in practice, many of the full status privileges were already given to YONGO, the official recognition cements YOUNGO as part of the climate negotiations and eases logistical matters for the constituency.

“Full status secures us, in that way it’s very empowering for young people,” he said.

Duyck also expressed appreciation to the secretariat for the decision, saying they have been extremely supportive throughout the process.

In a message to the YOUNGO constituency, young people were reminded that while being a full constituency brings more power, it does not mean less work. “If anything, it means that we will have to fight even harder, because now we have been given more power to.”

YOUNGO has not been without its critics. Reviews after the Copenhagen COP15 negotiations highlighted concerns of the increasing institutionalisation of the youth climate movement and the bureaucratic nature YOUNGO, with harshest critiques being the “naïve youth” unable to influence the ineffectual UNFCCC.

However, as Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), acknowledged at the opening of COP17, recent successes of YOUNGO, including the widely applauded achievement of Article 6, capacity building achievements and actions pressuring national delegations, suggest the youth climate movement can influence climate negotiations.