Exploring the missing link between youth climate activism and policy

To celebrate this year’s #Earth Day (22nd April) and to commemorate the annual Justice Awareness Week at the University of Groningen, the Environmental Humanities Network organised a workshop with a critical focus on the Global South. The workshop was facilitated by Gabriel Dinda, a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. 

In an engaging and challenging presentation, Gabriel gave an account of recent global debates around youth activism and the fading voices of African youth working to highlight pressing climate impacts and vulnerabilities. He leveraged his Kenyan roots to succinctly paint a picture of scenarios of how the youth in Kenya, despite limited resources, bureaucratic governance processes, tokenistic engagement and shrinking global cooperation, creatively come up with tactics to keep the “fire burning”. 

“Many youth activists in Africa are motivated by lived experience. It is a case of “what has happened” as opposed to “what may happen” in the event of climate breakdown.” He noted. The everyday realities of grassroot communities working to restore their livelihoods after disparaging floods and prolonged droughts painted a picture of a context in need of urgent action and intervention. 

The urgency of the situation according to Gabriel, is the driver of the continuous and persistent engagement among the youth. “The median age in Africa is 19 and culturally, many communities believe that the youth are the protectors of communities.”  This moral obligation to protect the community and their unique disposition places the youth at a critical juncture between communities and policymakers. This obligation, however, needs systemic support, not just rhetoric. 

While cases vary significantly, the youth generally feel fairly engaged in policy formulation process but decry the lack of meaningful action from the deliberations. “We want to see real change “on the ground” not endless meetings to deliberate on lengthy documents.”  Kabaka**, one of Gabriel’s respondent notes. Through this research, he highlights impactful work being done by different groups such as 1MillionTrees for Kilifi, Kenya Climate Change Working Group, among others. 

On a crucial day like this, when the world is invited to reflect on the needs of the Earth and reconsider our role in the care of the Earth, a workshop of  this nature reminds us that climate change is local, as much as it is global and the interventions must be responsive and targeted to the most affected. It invites us to look around and act with more urgency, since the reality remains that as deliberations on action continues, more lives and livelihoods are lost due to the impacts. 

Researchers like Gabriel, have a role to highlight the objective picture to help cut through the noise and steer the world to focus on what needs to be done.  

To engage with Gabriel on potential collaborations, write to: g.d.olewe rug.nl