Youth Participation in Climate Change for Sustainable Engagement

• Author: Joanne Narksompong,Sangchan Limjirakan
• Date: 01 July 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12121
• Published date: 01 July 2015

Youth Participation in Climate Change for

Sustainable Engagement

Joanne Narksompong and Sangchan Limjirakan*

Youth and children are identified as one of the nine

major groups of civil society in Agenda 21, with the

right and responsibility to participate in sustainable

development. The United Nations Framework Conven-

tion on Climate Change, through its Article 6 on Edu-

cation, Training and Public Awareness, calls on

governments to implement educational and training

programmes on climate change to educate, empower

and engage all stakeholders. The New Delhi and Doha

work programmes on Article 6, adopted in 2002 and

2012, respectively, target youth as a major group for

effective engagement in the formulation and imple-

mentation of decisions on climate change. This article

uses the case of Thailand to illustrate that national

policies in the country insufficiently address educating

and engaging youth in climate change issues. It argues

that governments need to adequately educate youth

and provide opportunities for them to become

informed and to be active citizens.

INTRODUCTION

Climate change is a complex global problem that is

interlinked with many issues, such as economic growth,

environmental degradation and poverty reduction. The

inherent complexities of climate change as a crosscut-

ting global crisis highlight the linkages between envi-

ronment, society and economy. According to the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),

human activity is extremely likely to be the main cause

of greenhouse gas emissions to the Earth’s atmosphere,

causing global temperatures to rise and the Earth’s

climate to change.1The current paradigm of economic

growth and carbon-based industrialization has resulted

in anthropogenic climate change that threatens the

entire biosphere.

Climate change and sustainable development have gen-

erally been discussed in separate discourses; however,

there is growing recognition of the interrelated nature

and potential synergies between the two issues.2The

1987 Brundtland Report defined sustainable develop-

ment as ‘development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future gen-

erations to meet their own needs’.3The various inter-

pretations of sustainable development include the three

dimensions of environment, economy and society to

meet the basic needs of all, now and in the future, given

finite environmental resources. The principle of sus-

tainable development is reflected in the call upon the

parties of the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to ‘protect the climate

system for the benefit of present and future generations

of humankind, on the basis of equity . . .’.4The social

dimensions of sustainability raise equity concerns in

the context of climate change, including the distribu-

tion of the impacts of climate change, the distribution of

responsibilities, intergenerational dimensions, access

to justice and public participation.5

Two concepts of equity within the context of sustainable

development are acknowledged to be highly relevant to

climate change: intergenerational and intragenerational

equity. The Brundtland Commission’s Our Common

Future promoted the inclusion of effective citizen par-

ticipation, including the participation of young people,

in decision making in political systems and as a strategy

to ensure intergenerational equity.6The concept of

intergenerational equity also validates the necessity for

the active involvement and participation of young

people, who will bear the burden of climate change over

* Corresponding author.

Email: sangchan.l@chula.ac.th

1Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate

Change 2014: Synthesis Report (IPCC, 2014).

2S. Cohen et al., ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Development:

Towards Dialogue’, 8:4 Global Environmental Change (1998), 341; J.

Robinson and D. Herbert, ‘Integrating Climate Change and Sustain-

able Development’, 1:2 International Journal of Global Environmental

Issues (2001), 130; J. Robinson et al., ‘Climate Change and Sustain-

able Development: Realizing the Opportunity’, 35:1 AMBIO (2006), 2;

R. Swart, J. Robinson and S. Cohen, ‘Climate Change and Sustain-

able Development: Expanding the Options’, 3:1 Climate Policy

(2003), S19.

3World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Our

Common Future (Oxford University Press, 1987), at paragraph 27.

4United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (New

York, 9 May 1992; in force 21 March 1994) (‘UNFCCC’), Article 3.1.

5N. Beg et al., ‘Linkages between Climate Change and Sustainable

Development’, 2:2 Climate Policy (2002), 129.

6See WCED, n. 3 above, at paragraph 28.

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

RECIEL 24 (2) 2015. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12121

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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