The international climate negotiations are about how we, as a global community, can tackle climate change and mitigate its catastrophic consequences, and how the burden of the necessary changes can be shared fairly. However, there are groups that are particularly affected by the consequences of climate change and the associated ecological crises but are hardly represented in the national negotiating teams. This includes young people. Even if young people manage to join the teams, there is often a lack of support and budget for travel expenses and targeted training, especially in countries of the so-called 'Global South'.
In 2021, a group of four young climate and negotiation experts therefore decided to set up a program for young negotiators aged 18 to 35, the Climate Youth Negotiators Programme (CYNP) . The program aims to train young leaders and activists from all sectors on the complex negotiation processes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and to provide networking opportunities and direct access to national negotiating teams.
With our support, the pilot program was launched in 2022 and has trained and connected more than 50 negotiators who have successfully co-negotiated for their countries at the climate conference. In the second round of the program in 2023, this number has already doubled, and 100 young negotiators have been trained. In this second cohort, we are primarily supporting negotiators from African countries.
From 2024, the successful concept will be extended to the UN Framework Convention to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation (UNCCD) with the creation of the Land Youth Negotiators Program (LYNP). The programs also promote exchanges between young negotiators from both UN conventions.
Youth Negotiators Academy
