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The climate crisis is a health crisis fueled by an untenable status quo. It is threatening our food, water, and air, worsening disease and extreme weather, and putting our physical, mental, and social well-being at risk. While the threat of the climate crisis is universal, the speed and severity of the impacts are not. Those who did the least to cause this emergency suffer the most as climate shocks push inequitable and fragile health systems past the breaking point.
On the occasion of the first Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), they expressed their grave concerns about the negative impacts of climate change on health. We stress the importance of addressing the interactions between climate change and human health and well-being in the context of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as the primary international, intergovernmental fora for the global response to climate change.
In an era marked by unparalleled technological advancements and global interconnectedness, the imperative to safeguard our planet's delicate ecological balance has never been more pressing. We are in the midst of a triple planetary crisis. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution endanger the environment and all Earth’s inhabitants including us. Each of the problems, from rising rates of extinction to carbon emissions and plastic pollution, is drastic and frightening on its own.
The impending crisis in Kenya is only one case study for the dire situations that threaten the global community due to climate change. However, there are several steps that we can take to alleviate the situation, and Kenya happens to be the perfect demonstration of this. By understanding climate change’s impact on women, youth, and refugees, a necessary dimension of climate change response is revealed.
The Youth Café was honored to be invited to attend and speak as a panelist at the 7th annual Devolution Conference held from 23rd to 26th November, 2021 in Makueni County. The Executive Director of The Youth Café, Willice Onyango spoke at the Prevention and management of conflict breakaway session whose theme was “Prevention and Management of Climate Change Instigated Conflicts: Collaborative Responses”.
During the global COP26 conference held in Glasgow from 31 October to 13 November, African Major Groups And Stakeholders delivered a statement voicing their support, doubts, concerns and hopes for the future of climate action in Africa and Globally. The Youth Café as a pan-African youth-led and youth-serving organization, fully support the contents of this statement.
The Youth Café looks forward to commemorate The International Youth Day especially because this years theme “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health” coincides with one of our key thematic areas outlined in our Theory of Change, ‘Environmental Preservation and Climate Change’, where the focus is on increasing climate change literacy programs, advocacy for the creation of more green jobs, and creation of a collaborative platform where young people can actively engage and participate in finding solutions to the environmental challenges such as increased investment in the blue economy.
On Monday 19th July 2021, representatives from The Youth Café attended the Shape The Net Zero Conversation, since one of our key focus areas at The Youth Café, as highlighted by our Theory of Change is Environmental Preservation and Climate change. Meeting attendants were divided into three groups where each discussed the following three main themes of the event: First Session: Climate Science & Implications, The second session, Visions of a Climate Resilient & Net-Zero Future, The Third Session: Paths to 2050, Co-Benefits and Trade-Offs.
The world faces major challenges including Covid-19, climate change, rising poverty, inequality and violence in many countries. Inequality is most apparent in the direct effects of COVID that hits informal workers and the vulnerable the most, vaccinations, wealth concentration, unequal impact of the fiscal stimulus, asset purchases and the imbalance in debtor/ creditor relationships particularly for people in the poorest countries. Many developing countries entered the pandemic with unsustainable debt levels but WBG worked to achieve a debt service suspension initiative and increased transparency in debt contracts.
