Young activists are tired of their views on the climate crisis being ignored

It’s time to act on the recommendations of young people, those who are experiencing the very worst impacts of the climate crisis

‘In Uganda, populations are being displaced, livelihoods disrupted, education ended prematurely and lives lost’ (Pixabay)

The fact that living with the climate crisis will range from being mildly uncomfortable to life-threatening is now, finally, sinking in. The number of first-hand witnesses of floods, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and calving polar glaciers – the direct results of anthropogenic climate change – is growing.

And the increasing disruptions wrought by the human-driven climate crisis are uneven. If it is devastating in Europe and North America, the prospects for lives and livelihoods in lower-income countries are far worse.

Thursday is International Youth Day, and it invites us to consider the challenges and opportunities for young people today. Young people’s climate activism has become a powerful force over recent years, but not all young people’s voices are well heard. It seems that the people who are least heard will also be the most impacted.

The fact that some people are hit worst by the climate crisis stems from the vastly unequal distribution of wealth, income, healthcare, education and infrastructure around the world. Development is bad for the climate crisis, and the climate crisis is also bad for development. The vast amount of greenhouse gases now and historically, have come from the so-called more developed countries. Climate change has disrupted the development of lower-income countries.

This tension is already playing out in the struggles of young people in Uganda, one of the youngest countries in the world, where the median age is below 17 years old. The climate crisis is prematurely halting their education, affecting their income and their health.

Of all continents, the United Nations Environment Programme expects that Africa will be the worst hit by the climate crisis. In Uganda, populations are being displaced, livelihoods disrupted, education ended prematurely and lives lost.

The Cop26 meeting in November will have a major focus on adaptation. Moving away from conversations focused solely on preventing anthropogenic climate change, mainstream thinking now acknowledges that adaptation is necessary. In fact, it is already happening with or without the support of governments or other agencies.

In Uganda, people have accepted the impacts of the climate crisis. Some feel there is nothing they can do about them and all they have to do is just adapt as mitigation seems impossible.

It is increasingly important for policymakers to consider the perspectives of young people and listen when they voice their concerns. The climate crisis and development are at odds.

Last month, several young people from across the Global South shared firsthand experiences of the ways in which the climate crisis is impacting them at a workshop organised by youth agency Restless Development, Cambridge University and Makerere University. One Ugandan chicken farmer, Peace Mbeiza, explained how the climate crisis is destabilising her business. As chicken diseases increase, this necessitates the use of medication but several birds still die each day.

Similarly, farmer Onan Olindi Felix described how disruptive the weather has become: “We plant, and then the rain washes away what we plant”.  As other farmers are impacted, the price of corn for Mbeiza’s chicken feed rises. She laments that “farming is associated with many losses and minimal profit.”

When farming fails to generate an income, children are withdrawn from school and some are married off early. Other young people who predict food prices hiking and people going hungry admit they feel “scared, hopeless and worried about their future”.

Young Ugandans are already responding to these changes. Harriet Akello founded Youth Advocacy Voices and describes how adaptive measures should also have a mitigating role – such as the tree planting and recycling initiatives championed by Emmanuel Oketcho of the Scouting movement. Yet without proper sensitisation, sometimes these projects don’t thrive in the longer term. So far, village savings schemes have played an important dual role as financial buffers and sources of investment capital. Planting fruit trees can stop them later being felled, due to their role in food production.

We need youth-led research into the effectiveness of these measures to build mitigation and adaptation strategies that stretch further. Activism can also help. The founder of Uganda’s Fridays for Future group, Hilda Nakabuye emphasises the urgency and immediacy of climate threats.

Joining the recent virtual workshop from Uganda, which is currently under lockdown, she said: “Many tell us, we youth do not know what we want. But we know exactly what we want. We are organising. We are connecting, we are ambitious, empowered and unstoppable. We are stronger as we take on this fight.”

That said, activism does not and should not stop with young people. Its success depends on fulfilling the great potential to collaborate across generations. It is vital that more people understand what is happening in Africa and use Cop26 to encourage a meeting of minds across generations and borders. As the climate crisis gets worse, people in Uganda and around the world are already adapting to its impacts, but the tension between development and climate change will not disappear.

There is already a wealth of insights about what works, what might help, and ideas about how to improve things. Right now, it makes sense to beat our targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also taking recommendations and policy advice from the people experiencing some of the very worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Young climate activists are now tired of being invited to the Cop26 to share their views, knowing that very few will get incorporated into decision making. They are tired of simply being heard, they want to be really listened to and their recommendations acted on.

Mollen Nyiraneza is a research assistant at Makerere University School of Social Sciences in Uganda

Dr Anna Barford is a senior research associate at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in the UK