UNEP to advise youth on how to live, get green jobs

Representatives of children and youth organisations from around the world are attending virtual Global Youth Environment Assembly. It is in two sessions. The first ran from 12 to 13 February, while the second runs from 18 to 20 February 2021. One of the agenda is to show how climate change affects youth and how youth could make a difference.

UNEP will release a youth report on 19 February. The Global Environmental Outlook 6 for Youth is UNEP’s first full electronic publication. It provides engaging multimedia content and interactive features to inform, engage and lead youth to action.

“This landmark report represents an opportunity for UNEP to link the scientific efforts of the organisation to youth,” UNEP said. In addition, the UN agency said youth had a crucial role in decision-making, entrepreneurship and bringing about transformative change.

The report carries several case studies and interviews. These include small-scale, community-led projects and individual guides to developing the appropriate skills for green jobs and daily sustainable actions.

A team of 28 young authors from across the world worked on the report. They used Global Environmental Outlook’s co-creation model.

Global Environmental Outlook 6 for Youth is a toolkit

The report is a tool to understand the state of the environment. It guides young people on sustainable lifestyles and green jobs.

This report provides a toolkit for effective individual and community action for the planet. In addition, it guides on the education and skills needed for a career in the green economy.

The report’s authors will present it to a plenary session on 19 February. Thirty contributors, all under 30 years, from around the world wrote the report. Also, climate youth activists and winners of UNEP Youth Champions of the Earth wrote the report.

Ms Inger Andersen, executive director, UNEP, together with the authors of the report will discuss its three main areas. The three main areas are communicating science to the youth and sustainable actions. Also, they will talk about green jobs of the future and the skills to access these opportunities.

READ – UNEP prize: Kenyan among seven world winners

Joint Event of Science Policy Business Forum

The Global Youth Environment Assembly will also hold a Joint Event of Science Policy Business Forum on 18 March. This is an intergenerational dialogue bringing together youth, academia and decision-makers from public and private sectors.

The session will be hosted jointly with the UN Science Policy Business Forum.

The UN Science Policy Business Forum on the Environment seeks to strengthen science, policy and business sectors interface. This is to accelerate positive change towards a circular economy.

A circular economy is an economic system that eliminates waste and continual use of resources.

The forum was founded in 2017 at the UN Environment Assembly. It promotes green technology markets that are driven by advances in science and technology, empowering policies and innovative financing.

It is a platform of over 3,500 contributors and partner institutions from business, science and policy.