IYCN Hosted Roundtable Discussion under “Agents of Change” Program

A roundtable discussion under IYCN’s “Agents of Change Program”

An Initiative of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in India Young Climate Leaders present and discuss youth climate perception survey and key asks in the IYCN position paper with seniors working in the policy sphere.

November 11, 2014, New Delhi: A roundtable discussion under Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN’s) “Agents of Change Programme” was held on 17th November 2014 at Maple Hall, India Habitat Center, New Delhi. The discussion aimed at sharing the findings from the youth climate perception survey and the resultant position paper on climate policy by the Indian Youth Climate Network. The initiative was supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany with guidance of GIZ.

The half day event was divided into two sessions with two different panels spear-heading discussions. The first panel comprised Mr. Jayant Chaudhary, former MP and Mr. Raman Mehta, climate policy specialist and Associate Editor Nitin Sethi from the Business Standard. Mr. Sethi dwelled upon the disassociation between civil society and the political class on issues of climate change, saying that there is a greater need than ever to bring the two together. Mr. Chaudhary emphasized the importance of cloaking the climate change debate in a language that policy makers better understand, as more of a development issue than a global, scientific challenge. This, he stated, would also ensure that issues that are discussed and addressed are more in tune with local needs and easily digestible by both legislators and their constituents. Mr Mehta also stressed on the need to unpack what environment means to people and be more aware of larger issues within the climate sphere of poverty and lack of options for the poor to develop the way environmentalists envisage.

The second panel was chaired by Mr. Ram Kishan from Christian Aid with Mr. Georg Klussmann, Counselor with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mr. Sanjay Vashisht, of CANSA as the panelists. The panel discussed ways to integrate the youth movement in the country with larger civil society and the legislators. Mr. Kishan lay down campaigning through workshops, social media and videos as the key to each as many youth as possible, while Mr. Klussmann stressed on the importance of taking on the right mentors who are already well versed with policy and policy making to guide youth. He also said that messaging needs to be short, edible, clear and addressed to the right aspects or people citing the example of energy as a sphere to show how development needs could be easily intertwined with the need to adapt and mitigate. Mr. Vashist outlined the need for more innovations from the youth to cater to the ever increasing challenges in a climate constrained India. He looked at the need to integrate themes and work on solutions so as to mobilise and connect more people.

The initiative aimed to discuss the role youth can play in bringing climate change discussions into the mainstream and how to enhance their engagement in the policy circles. The trainings held across 7 cities (Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi and Shillong) under the AoC programme sought to demystify the issues around climate change and contextualize them for the youth to better connect and understand these often complex issues. The AoC is also a platform to communicate regularly with the Indian parliamentarians to share the youth’s ideas, opinions and stance about climate policy in the run up to and beyond COP 20. As also to learn about how policy makers work – their constraints, considerations and opinions.

India. A roundtable discussion under IYCN’s “Agents of Change Program”

The “Agents of Change” takes the climate movement of the Indian Youth Climate Network from the grassroots to the international arena. COP20 will lay the groundwork for the future of international policy on climate change, and youth, being the largest constituency in the country, must understand and interact more with the civil society and government to make their voices heard. The main aim is to make the youth movement more proactive and informed on climate change and related issues.