The Future's in Our Hands: Through the Eyes of Our Youth
With ‘Climate Anxiety’ on the rise among young people, 16 year old student Cyrus Fotuhi gives us an insight into how youth are feeling about Climate Change, and how they think we should be tackling it.
This guest blog for EARTH DAY 2023 is written by Cyrus Fotuhi, Year 12 Student at JESS Arabian Ranches, Dubai and Earth Matters Consulting intern:
Climate change is one of the biggest problems in today’s world, and the consequences are numerous, severe and upcoming. Today I am here to to state my views on this pressing global issue, as well as voices from youth in my community.
Climate change has serious social and economic implications, including food and water shortages, displacement of people from their homes, and increased risks of conflict and social unrest. It is essential that we take action to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and adapting to the changes that are already happening. Failure to act could lead to irreversible damage to the planet and make life more difficult for future generations.
Everybody has their own opinion about climate change and how severe it is, depending on how it is affecting their lives. I personally believe that the consequences will start to creep in if we do not act in time. After conducting interviews with friends and family, I found a common trend in viewpoints. For example, my friend Salim believes that climate change is one of the biggest issues we face in the modern world. There are numerous causes, and he thinks they need to be dealt with immediately before the problems become out of hand and irreversible.
Climate change is also one of the most significant threats to biodiversity, affecting both individual species and entire ecosystems. The warming of the planet is causing changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, which are disrupting the delicate balance of life on Earth. As a result, species are struggling to adapt to these changes, leading to declines in populations and even extinction. Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and micro-organisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat. This will not be sustainable for future generations and once again is a cause for concern.
My brother Kian, who aspires to be a marine biologist and is an enthusiast for biodiversity, thinks that plans need to be put into place. He believes that there are lots of activists and people who are coming up with solutions to counter the respective problems that we face, and are going out of their way to attempt to put their ideas into action.
However, whether it is due to ignorance or denial, most efforts are going unnoticed. As he thinks that biodiversity takes the biggest hit from climate change, he believes ideas NEED to be listened to in order to mitigate climate change effects.
An effort to mitigate climate change are COP conferences. COP is the main decision-making body of the UNFCCC, which includes representatives of all the countries that are signatories (or ‘Parties’) to the UNFCCC. COP assesses the effects of measures introduced by the Parties to limit climate change against the overall goal of the UNFCCC. These meetings are held annually, with the goal of assessing progress in dealing with climate change and negotiating agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The most significant outcome of COP meetings is the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. Other important international conferences include the ones held in Rio in 1992, which gave birth to the UNFCCC and the COP in Kyoto in 1997.
COP conferences have become increasingly important in recent years as the effects of climate change become more severe and urgent. From the people that I interviewed, not many were aware of the COP conferences; however Kian was as our dad attended COP 27 last year in Egypt. The most significant outcome of the conference was the loss and damage fund, where countries responsible for high carbon emissions compensate vulnerable countries suffering from climate impacts.
Among my interviewees there was an understanding that this was a treaty, or agreement, to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. My friend Alisha is aware of it due to her studies in Geography. She knew about the Kyoto, Rio and Paris agreements as they were the most notable, however she thought that the first two were ineffective. Alisha thinks Rio failed because it was not really implemented and some poorer countries didn’t even sign, and that Kyoto failed due to people turning to nuclear power. She believes it was effective before incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima made nuclear power less attractive.
The next COP conference, COP28, is scheduled to be held here in the UAE from the 30th of November to the 12th of December. There is an international youth climate delegate programme available, running from March to December 2023. It will embed 100 people within the international climate policy negotiation process, with priority going to people from LEDC’s. This program will be overseen by the COP28 Youth Climate Champion, Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui, in collaboration with YOUNGO, the Official Children and Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This may seem like a great opportunity for students such as myself, however is only available for people from the ages of 18-35, which leaves out students such as the ones in my school and community who want to help.
In conclusion, we need to face the fact that if no action is taken and no plans are put into place, then the terrible effects of climate change will be irreversible. I believe investing more in renewable energy is the most effective solution, and reducing burning of fossil fuels. As a result this will greatly reduce biodiversity loss as habitats and ecosystems will be less affected by climate change. Additionally, we have COP 28 to look forward to, with countries re-visiting the table with stronger and more ambitious climate strategies than they did in 2022.
EARTH MATTERS CONSULTING IS READY TO SUPPORT YOU IN YOUR JOURNEY, WHETHER YOU ARE A BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT ON NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION.
Email info@earth-matters.net or call us on +971 (4) 368 0892