Youth are innovative and creative. But far more important than this is our willingness to change our way of doing things, our readiness to challenge the conventional, and our understanding that we are in this for the long haul.
– Next Generation Climate Board advisor Winnie Asiti
Today, youth leaders worldwide – Greta Thunberg, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and many others – are taking action, speaking up, and leading the charge to reverse the climate crisis. They are taking to the streets and calling upon world leaders to open their eyes and make change to protect the earth for future generations.
At Global Greengrants Fund, we are dedicated to creating platforms for diverse grassroots leadership within environmental and social justice movements. We believe that all people, particularly those who will be the most impacted, should have a voice in decisions that affect the health of their water, soil, and air.
There is no doubt that today’s youth will bear a larger burden from climate change over the course of their lives than today’s adults. However, despite their considerable investment in the outcome of climate-related choices, youth rarely have equal access to decision-making spaces, funding, or other resources that could help them to play an active role on climate change.
In 2013, Global Greengrants Fund launched a new advisory board, a mechanism for identifying grantees and awarding funding to grassroots activists. The Next Generation Climate Board brings together a group of accomplished climate activists, all in their 20s, to recommend grants and provide mentorship to young people pursuing cutting-edge climate change initiatives worldwide. This board is the first of its kind in the world funding youth-led action on climate change.
To date, the Next Generation Climate Board has awarded 112 grants is 39 countries, totaling $539,802. Below are two examples of the kind of work by youth activists this board is funding across the globe.
Borneo
Borneo Dayak Forum International Youth Council will use a grant to engage Indigenous Dayak youth in protecting the environment of West Kalimantan by embracing their traditional culture and knowledge. The term Dayak is used to encompass over 200 ethnic groups in Borneo, with over 3 million Dayak living in West Kalimantan. Traditional Dayak culture values togetherness, collective action, and alignment with the natural world.
Environmental degradation caused by the expansion of palm oil plantations and mining in the region is increasingly impacting access to clean water, traditional medicine, and other traditional forest practices. The group will focus on protecting the local environment through traditional education and advocacy that will teach students to become the stewards of traditional land and nature.
Malawi
Green Girls Platform will use a grant to build capacity and increase the number of women and girls actively participating in climate related adaption and mitigation activities in Lilongwe, Malawi. The districts of Lilongwe and Mchinji face high population growth, early marriages, high levels of sexual and gender based violence, high rate of school dropouts, environmental degradation, loss of forest resources, and high dependency on rain-fed agriculture for economic survival. These factors make these districts highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The group will conduct a two-day training workshop for 80 women and girls to build the capacity of women and girls in climate change, environmental governance, leadership, and evidence based policy advocacy and communication. The project will also facilitate the formation of Climate Justice Clubs at a number of girls schools and secondary schools, forming six clubs with an estimated 66 members and two climate justice champions from each campus.