Climate justice is a moral imperative, and all young people should be involved and engaged in the cause.
This call is intrinsically linked to action, doing something to help vulnerable communities in a country like Nepal that consistently sees firsthand the damages caused by planet warming.
I was recently reflecting on how young people can get activated for this existential call as a two youths led organizations, the Lumbini chapter of Youth Initiative, a very well established NGO and a new one, Youth Unity, together with Anusa Karki, a co-founder of Planet Pulse, another not for profit initiative, had invited me to share some thoughts in an online program last week.
Doing something always looks easy, but sometimes, the easy things are the most difficult things to accomplish.
After all, action must always be meaningful to have a desired impact and understanding deeply the issues at stake is paramount.
Otherwise, “doing” climate action without proper preparation and knowledge might not yield any results.
Even small gestures like a cleaning campaign, a tree plantation program or a simple school awareness campaign require some good understanding.
It seems obvious, but I do feel that oftentimes the aspect of preparing ourselves is not adequately addressed.
It is easy to skip it.
Ignoring this part can be acceptable at the very beginning of someone’ journey in the field of climate action, because, right at the start, the essential thing is to get involved even though you must be guided by someone who knows.
Yet, if someone wants to be serious and committed to the cause, then there is no way around building their know-how.
The rise of AI
We need to do our homework and understand that the nitty gritty of climate change, with all its different and interlinked dimensions, is essential.
And action and expertise come together.
But it is also indispensable to understand the context.
Climate negotiations happening at the highest levels of global policymaking must be contextualised with what is unfolding at global levels, and the “picture” is not a good one.
No matter the importance of climate change, the global scenario is rapidly changing.
This is not good news for those fighting for climate justice, but let me take a small detour.
While climate change is one of the most daunting issues humanity is facing, there is the emergence of a disruptive technology, artificial intelligence.
Soon we will reach the level of Artificial General Intelligence, A.G.I., where AI tools will equal or exceed human capacities.
It is a different level from Chat GPT or other AI-powered tools that we are already misusing at our peril, and this is something decidedly not smart.
Instead of undertaking a deep, time-consuming learning journey, we opt for the convenience of what I call “AI shortcuts”.
Moreover, we also know that AI development will require massive use of energy.
So there is a link between climate and AI, and this has already proved to be problematic.
Democracy under stress
But then there is another crisis unfolding, and this is the crisis of democracy.
The people living in many democratic nations are losing trust in their systems, and democratic practices, including patterns and behaviours in the political arena, are in decline.
Democracy and with it, how democratic governance is under stress and democratic governance, the system that should improve people’s lives, is showing to be ineffective, creating frustrations and detachment among the citizenry.
In Nepal, there is a general and widespread wave of malcontent with the system, but it is not an isolated case.
Majoritarianism, propelled by populist forces, is advancing.
India of Prime Minister Modi and his BJP is a clear example, but every single day when we look at American politics, we are reminded by the perils of populism.
The European Union, where I am from, is certainly not immune, far from it.
Fortunately, there are exceptions proven by the recent elections in Canada and Australia.
But the key point is that when governance is responsive and is unable to offer answers, people get disengaged and end up supporting populist forces.
In the EU, many young people back far-right parties, something that was inconceivable till a few years ago and still hard to believe that is happening.
But let’s go back to our challenges because both climate change and the turbo-charged development of AI require very effective policy responses.
Effective governance is powered and enabled by effective politics in the democratic arena, but as we know, oftentimes politics is marred by corruption.
This is a huge problem because young people might start getting despaired and hopeless, and rightly so.
After all, politics is so far detached, and there is a lot of dirt, and this is not only in Nepal.
Embracing learning for policy making
What could young people do?
First, they could run for office, but it is also not easy; it is actually very hard.
But there is another way around, and this is centred on getting interested in policies and becoming experts in some specific areas of policy-making.
Here we go back to the initial message at the start of this piece: doing and knowing.
So, do we want to do something about climate change? Let’s learn about it, let’s start getting educated.
We do not need to be scientists, nor do we need to graduate from forestry or environmental sciences programs, even though such tracks would offer an edge.
The central case I am making is that everyone can learn.
But we need to be committed to learn. We need to embrace climate action as a learning journey.
The Sagarmatha Summit is far from being enough
So, how many youths have gone through the Sagarmatha Call for Action?
The Sagarmatha Summit was a positive event, but it should be just contextualised as a small first step.
Nepal can be much more visible and creative during the climate negotiations (and also in the ones related to biodiversity, let’s not forget this area that is strictly correlated to climate policy making.
There is a need for a quantum leap in terms of Nepal being able to offer new propositions and ideas
Because just raising the issue of climate does not work, even though the complaint is legitimate
It is not enough, also because we cannot neglect what is happening around the world.
Enter geopolitics, and it is worrisome
The international context is changing.
Just a few years ago, there was a lot of pressure, and there was a momentum that culminated in COP 26 in Glasgow in 2021.
Everyone was talking about climate negotiations and taking bold steps in this field was seen as the right thing to do.
But now geopolitics has stepped in and a faraway war that people in Nepal are mostly ignoring is changing this promising unfolding course of bold actions to fight climate change.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is changing the context for the worse.
Let’s look at the EU. The EU was a trailblazer in climate action.
Over the last few years, the EU has become a trailblazer in terms of committing itself and its member nations to take some key steps, even if far from being perfect.
Ambitious targets to reach net zero were set, ground-breaking regulations under the so-called “New Green Deal” were successfully pushed by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, the EU executive.
Now, the same von der Leyen is under pressure to loosen her major climate policies.
A real backlash is unfolding from the members of her own political family, the European People’s Party.
Why?
Because there is a real fear that Russia might expand its ambitions and if it wins the war against Ukraine, then a scary domino effect might take place with other nations being targeted.
The new American administration with President Trump is so unpredictable that it cannot be counted on, especially because of the sympathetic views that President Trump has towards President Putin of Russia.
At the upcoming NATO Summit, the member nations of the alliance will probably commit to spending 5% of their GDP on defence.
This is going to be a turning point that, unfortunately, I fear will adversely impact international climate finance.
No European leaders might be willing to admit it, but it is likely what is going to happen.
As a consequence, there is an ongoing rush towards investments in armaments rather than in climate action, no matter the legal obligations that Europe and other industrialised nations are bound to under the Paris Agreement.
In short, the global context is rapidly changing and for climate-vulnerable nations like Nepal and this development is worrisome.
Keeping the demand for climate compensation or keeping the pressure on funding for Loss & Damage is the right moral thing to do and such requests must be pursued.
But it is not enough, and effective governance with responsive policymaking could make the difference.
Nepal also needs to prove to the international community that it has in place a very strong national governance that can generate revenues for its development.
A stronger national system could be strong and solid enough to take some bold actions in the field of climate action, without depending on foreign aid.
Policies and institutions must prove to be capable of countering climate change, at tackling global warming (and the rise of AI).
So Nepal needs to step up the game, and here we reconnect with action and know that, combined and pursued together, they are the drivers and enablers of leadership.
So young people must take action in order to come up with effective ideas to fight climate change and to do so, being knowledgeable, building know-how is indispensable.
At the same time, it is also true that such joint efforts, doing and knowing, do not automatically equate with a change in the political system.
The role of deliberative democracy
But there is hope also here.
There is a crop of young people passionate about doing politics differently, and, as we know, young people in the country have already shown their disdain for traditional parties.
Additionally, there is also a different type of hope emerging.
Around the world, a new form of “doing” democracy is slowly taking place, and it is called deliberative democracy.
It is when citizens come together to discuss and deliberate about the most intricate, complex policies, including climate.
This idea of consultative democracy has ancient roots that can be found throughout the Asia Pacific, including in many parts of South Asia, including Nepal, but these practices are now being formalised and taken to the next level.
Around the world, more and more experiences of democratic deliberations are taking place supported by an increasing body of academic work.
Deliberative democracy is not going to replace elective democracy based on voting any time soon but it is a great opportunity to reform and strengthen the system.
It offers citizens, especially young people, a door to enter the stage, a say in the decision making, a first step in the arena of policy formulation and knowledge is key.
To wrap up, we need action to fight climate change and a country like Nepal needs international support, especially in the form of Loss and Damage.
But the nation also needs to have the house in order and have strong policies at local and national levels, and it is here where young people need to be ready by mastering the art of policy making.
We need to facilitate the creation of new spaces for people to have their voice heard, and deliberative practices, adapted and adjusted to the local circumstances, can be a launchpad for what I believe could be a transformative change.
But knowledge and know-how building is paramount, and they represent the start of the journey, a journey that can bring self-empowerment that is a “sine qua non” for personal and professional leadership.
Dear youths, are you ready for the challenge?
