FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 1, 2015
The UNFCCC Youth Constituency
Policy Statements
Executive Summary
Adaptation--Bambara Donald, donald.bambara@greenact.org
All parties should adapt collectively and mitigate collectively, because Earth is a common
ship! However we believe each party should act regarding to its vulnerabilities and urgencies.
Special attention must be paid to the adaptation fund! All parties should contribute to this
GLOBAL fund, not only developed parties. However, this fund should be urgently and in
majority allocated to the most vulnerable parties.
Education -- Cecilia Wessln, cecilia.wesslen@scouterna.se
Education is the most important means towards a society that understands and can respond to
our changing climate. Without education, no agreement can be successfully implemented.
Education is critical in finding innovative solutions to climate change. In spite of these recent
reminders and of support from all Parties for the inclusion of education in the agreement,
there is now a risk that education may be removed from the operative language of the text.
The inclusion of Article 8 bis in the agreement is crucial in opening up new opportunities for
Parties and civil society to collaborate on educational initiatives.
Gender -- Ale Salas, alesadel7@gmail.com
As nations set about developing strategies and actions plans, it must be ensured that these are
fully gender-responsive and take into account girls and womens specific needs and
vulnerabilities. Girls and womens rights organizations must be consulted and allowed to
have substantive input into the design, delivery, and implementation of these action plans.
Capacity building efforts to educate and empower women and girls to participate fully in
decision-making will be essential. Girls and women are the experts on their needs and lived
experience and can make a genuine contribution to the success of mitigation, adaptation, and
resilience programming if given the tools and spaces to do so. The involvement of girls and
women is not only a best practice principle, it is also a basic right of girls & women to have
their voices heard.
Health -- Line Damsgaard, line.damsgaard@hotmail.com
The impacts of climate change on human health and well-being are many - and they are
deadly serious. The WHO estimates that 250.000 lives will be lost due to climate change
between 2030-2050. Already climate change is affecting health, and this impact is expected
to increase through direct and indirect causes. This will exact a huge toll on the global
healthcare systems. In fact, although the economic costs of acting are high, climate action
benefits society not only through improved health but also in net financial savings through
health costs. It actually makes economic sense to act on climate change. We must act,
because 250.000 those lives lost per year is not acceptable. We ask for health to be preserved
in the preamble and integrated throughout the text.
Human Rights -- Clara Gurres, Clara.b.gurreso@ukycc.org
The effects of climate change impact already vulnerable groups and communities
disproportionately and infringe upon their rights to food, security and housing. In order to
protect these rights, they need to be included in the operative part of the core agreement, thus
be part of Article 2. The explicit recognition of human rights obligations will help achieve the

goals of the agreement, and their operationalization will ensure effective outcomes and secure
the necessary coherence in international policy making.
Intergenerational Equity -- Timothy Damon, tdamon12@gmail.com
It is imperative that the Paris Agreement include strong references to Intergenerational
Equity. The most recent draft text from ADP 2-11 included two such mentions: one in Pp10
of the Preamble and one in Article 2.2 (Purpose). We need both of them to reach the final
Agreement: for what purpose does the Paris Agreement have if not to protect present and
future generations from the devastation of climate change? Future generations cannot raise
their voices in this process to demand a safe and livable future on this planet; therefore, we
must take strong action now to ensure that todays youth, the unborn, and all generations of
humankind can enjoy a stable climate system.
Loss and damage - Erica Bower, Erica.Bower@sustainUS.org
Despite global mitigation and adaptation efforts, youth and future generations will inherit
severe losses and damages due to climate change. YOUNGO supports that Loss and Damage
must be a standalone Article 5 of the Paris Decision Text. The Option 2 must be removed; we
cannot afford to consider a Do nothing option. Core to addressing this issue is innovative
finance, and strong policy linkages between the time-bound Warsaw Mechanism and UN
programming related to disasters and risk reduction such as the Sendai Framework.
Furthermore, YOUNGO believes that displacement due to climate impacts is an issue too
important to ignore; the decision text should include explicit recognition of a climate
displacement coordination facility. And finally, we assert that the Warsaw International
Mechanism (WIM) requires permanent status in UNFCCC process beyond the current time
bound mandate that ends in 2016. Future generations and disproportionately vulnerable
regions depend on our solidarity and robust support.
LTG
The objective of the UNFCCC of avoiding dangerous human interference in the climate
system should be operationalize through a zero emission to 2050 goal, that give us a great
change to hold temperature increase below 1.5C. Such a science-based goal will allow us to
avoid medium and high risks on people and systems with limited adaptive capacity. This
target is a clear signal of the end of the fossil fuel era.
Zero Waste, Matthew Kennedy, mkennedy@coa.edu
Acknowledging the systemic interrelation between climate change and the waste crisis, we
call on government leaders to initiate an immediate transition to a sustainable materials
management paradigm and zero-waste society, as an essential emissions mitigation strategy.
This includes promoting product stewardship, and utilising the waste hierarchy that aim
foremost to prevent waste generation. We are opposed to waste-to-energy being used as a
renewable energy source, as it creates more greenhouse gas emissions than coal burning.