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Reported Muhammad Shahzad Yousaf (intern) Translated by Liu Chang

C
limate change is one of the most critical
challenges that Earth is facing today.
Recent events all around the world have
demonstrated it quite horrifically that climate
change, if not dealt properly, can cause human
race great losses and would leave our societies in
ruin if it is not a complete extinction on the Earth.
Floods in Pakistan, Droughts in China and India,
Hurricanes in United States of America, Tsunamis
in Southeast Asian countries, earthquakes in China
and other parts of the world, famines and changing
climate in many African countries, torrential rains
land losses in coastal areas of several countries
and number of other such events depict that this
changing climate has multi-faceted impacts and
correspondingly it requires to be dealt with a
sense of urgency and at different levels. Otherwise
the overall eco-system of this planet is going to
change drastically which may result in human
extinction from the face of Earth and as some
scholar has described this threat to our existence
as this planet has seen many extinctions and
outlived them so itd outlive next one also but
maybe it will be us, the humans, who would not
be there to see what it would be like afterwards.
Youth Activism and Climate Change:
Youth as Change Agent in Changing Climate


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This is merely a glimpse of the

whole picture and impacts climate
change can cause t o our pl anet .
Efforts are being made to fight climate
challenge at global, regional, and
national levels all around the globe and
even at provincial and district levels
inside borders. Although these efforts
differ in their capacity and range but an
optimist would argue that something or
other is being done to adapt and mitigate
to climate change at almost all levels
but all these efforts collectively are
not yet sufficient enough to the extent
which would save us from the avoidable
climate impacts. United Nations
expert bodies on climate change keep
warning from time to time about lack of
determination and efforts by the global
community to fight climate change.
Climate change is a global problem but
can be fought within confnes of borders
at country level by all the nations of the
world and then build a collective effort
by the global community. Consensus
has been reached on climate change
and measures to adapt and mitigate to
climate change but collective actions
of the global community are not yet
sufficient enough while time is ticking
and situation is worsening. One reason
behind such inaction as experts say, is
that countries of the world dont own
this issue as they own or act towards
other issues of national interest and thus
with lack of political will to act towards
solving this problem their action often
lack the required zeal to deal with the
issue.

Take Indi a and Paki st an, for

example, both the countries have been
involved in conflicts over Kashmir,
Siichin, Kargil, and other high altitude
areas covered with glacial ice. Initially
these conflicts started as more of
geopolitical disputes but since both the
countries are lacking water for their
agriculture and power generation and
with the changing climate the situation
has worsened so, these conflicts have
been fueled by changing climate and
armed forces from both the countries
keep trying to gain control over above
mentioned places to tap water from
t hese huge wat er resources from
Karakorum range but at the same time
there has been very few efforts to adapt
and mitigate climate change and the
biggest reason behind such inaction is
public unawareness and lack of demand
from common masses to fight against
climate change. These conflicts have
long destabilized the region and as a
result ecological balance of the natural
habitat is also disturbed. Apart from
these conflicts governments from both
the countries have been announcing
policies to deal with changing climate
but their actions have never matched
their words. Pakistan a couple of
years ago, cut down the allocated
budget amount to fght climate change
by al most hal f (t ot al amount for
environmental protection is already
0. 04% of whol e budget amount )
while it had issued a national policy
on climate change and had expressed
determination to fight against climate
change and thus its actions went into
another direction contrary to its own
national policies.

0.04%

Despite this gloomy picture of

global politics and lack of concrete
actions, there is a new hope in countries
like India and Pakistan. Youth which
is biggest chunk of the population
from both the countries and young
people being proportionally better
literate are vying to make a difference
in every walk of life including efforts
to save their nations in particular and
the world in general from impacts of
climate change. Pakistan has 35% of its
total population aged 15 or under and
47% of its total registered voters are
aged between 18-35 years while India
also has 35% of its whole population
aged 20 years or less. Many youth
lead philanthropic organizations have
sprung up in both the countries and
such philanthropic organizations are
trying to bring about public awareness
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of youth related issues and problems

along with creating awareness about
challenges faced by societies including
the challenge of climate change. As
UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon in
2007 expressed his belief in youth by
saying that these youth are leaders of
future and with amazing capability of
adapting to new technologies and using
them for benefit of humankind they
can be the drivers of change. Youth
has been a dominant deciding factor in
recent elections in India and Pakistan
during year 2014 and 2013 elections
respectively.
Yout h wi t h t hei r pul s at i ng
enthusiasm and vibrant activism have
started leading efforts to demand better
legislation and more tuned efforts to
solve issues including climate change.
While, in developed world like United
States youth is also providing with
innovative technologies and technology
based initiatives to slow down climate
change, youth in developing countries
like India and Pakistan are not also
behind those in developed world.
Adaptation to low carbon lifestyle is
easier for youth as they are not only
better literate but also because of
abilities to use technologies better they
have an extra advantage. Many youth
led activist organization have sprung up
both in India and Pakistan.

15
35%47%
18-3520
35%

2007

20142013

We contacted some of these youth

led organizations from both India and
Pakistan to know about their efforts
in detail about solving problems of
their communities and societies in
general and their efforts to create public
awareness about climate issue. Among
hundreds of such organizations we
talked to Progressive Vellores founder
Muhammad Sayeed Shokat. Sayeed,
who is researcher with Doha based
Qatar Foundation and runs his own
youth led initiative in small district
of Vellore, some 200 kilometers from
south Indian state of Tamil Nadus
capital Chennai, believes in change
through research and awareness. His
philanthropic initiative, Progressive
Vellore named after the district Vellore,
started merely a couple of year ago
and ai ms at mappi ng ai r qual i t y,
water levels, recording agricultural
development activities and keeping a
track of urbanization in Vellore in order
to bring in sustainable development
which is in harmony with the local
ecological settings of Vellore. Sayeed
believes in participatory research
and bringing change from grassroots
and from local governmental level.
Ci t i ng organi zat i ons t heor y of
change and strategy of networking,
he says, District-level change is
what we believe in. Adaptation and
transformation at a small community
level is less tough than transforming
the entire State or a nation. There are
several examples across the world;
vibrant, proactive, forward looking,
strong community participation has
transformed the community of living
and harmony. Developing a shared
vision is a key. Once the vision is
created, strategies and targets have
to be put in place and lobby with the
local authorities to implement timely
strategies.

Progressive Vellore

200
Progressive Vellore
Vellore

On t he ot he r ha nd Sa ye e d
complaints about the role media has
pl ayed t o bri ng about awareness
and also criticizes government for
over-politicizing the matter for the
sake of gaining certain leverages on
international platforms. Media brings
covers news on climate change in very
episodic way and often connects it to
certain events happening during that
time of coverage and there is no on-
going coverage of climate change
and other collective public issues in
media while 24/7 news media
broadcasts scandals and other
sensational news round the clock
so element of public awareness
i s mi ssi ng and medi a by no
means represents society. Young
activists now use new media tools
such as Twitter and Facebook to
produce ripples but in countries
like India and Pakistan where
internet penetration rate is very
low and internet is mostly used for
leisurely purposes, it is difficult
to bring about public awareness
through only new media even
though it is helping a lot recently.
But because of huge chunks of
population in both the countries
are illiterate and also don't have
access to internet so TV and radio
are the main source of information
in suburban and rural areas.

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Whi l e i nt e r na t i ona l yout h

led organizations like 350.org and
greenpeace are also working in India,
an India based Indian Youth Climate
Network (IYCN) has successfully
registered itself in youth activism
for climate change. IYCN operates
to groom young climate leaders and
has its presence in several colleges
and universities across India. IYCN
members work to generate consensus on
what role India should play in the global
debate of climate change, and how it
should address its domestic issues.
Shi r kat Gah, a ci vi l s oci et y
organi zat i on wor ki ng on gender
equality in 44 districts of Pakistans all
four provinces, is a unique initiative in
terms of raising awareness and fghting
climate change with gender perspective.
Organization has published several
research based reports and papers
on environment and globalization
assessing the impacts of environmental
changes on women in Pakistan. One of
the studies titled Poisoned Lives: The
Effects of Cotton Pesticides places
the problems of women cotton pickers
in the context of pesticide policies in
Pakistan. It reviews the devastating
ecological changes taking place due
to the so-called Green Revolution
a n d a l t e r n a t i v e s t o p e s t i c i d e
dependence, and includes a number of
recommendations for coping with the
environmental ecological, and gender
related problems emanating from use
of pesticides in cotton farming areas of
Pakistan.

350.org

IYCN

IYCN

Shirkat Gah
4
44

Rab Nawaz, a young leader and

head of Khudi.orgs Lahore chapter in
Pakistan, opines that youth in Pakistan
can change the course of history of the
country provided that shown the right
path. He describes how extremism
has been on rise in Pakistan due to
wrong policies and has adversely
affected youth. His organization Khudi
organizes events, seminars, platform,
and conferences on civic education,
constitutional literacy and extremism.
The whole ecological setting of our
society is at stake because of conflicts
and extremism so we try to deconstruct
common di scourse on ext remi sm
through meeting, seminars conferences,
and trainings for youth, Rab Nawz
mentions efforts his organization takes
to eradicate evil of extremism from
society.
Hu n d r e d s o f o t h e r s u c h
organizations like Progressive Vellore,
I ndi an Yout h Cl i mat e Net wor k,
Shirkat Gah, and Khudi are working
both in India and Pakistan on range
of i ssues encompassi ng yout h i n
particular and whole society in general.
Vi brant yout h i n t hese and ot her
such developing countries is key to
peace and sustainable development
which is ecologically safe and climate
friendly. What is required is improved
and inclusive efforts by such youth
led initiatives to bring youths from
society together and build awareness
and consensus on local, provincial,
and national levels on all issues and
problems including environment and
climate change which would pressurize
governments for favorable policies
and actions accordingly to deal with
all the issues. Youth is undoubtedly the
future of India and Pakistan and it can
easily make a difference with concerted
efforts to change destiny of both the
nations and also play its role in global
climate mitigation and adaptation
efforts.

Progressive Vellore
Shirkat Gah

UN Photo/Staton Winter