Southern Africa Youth Conference on Climate Change (SAYCCC) – 26th to 29th October 2010
The Ministry of Youth Development and Sports in Collaboration with a Consortium of NGOs led by Sustainable Rural Growth and Development Initiative , Private Sector, Research and Academic institutions in Malawi will be partnering withAfrica Youth Initiative on Climate Change(AYICC) and Southern Africa Youth Movement(SYM) to host the Southern Africa Youth Conference on Climate Change (SAYCCC). The conference will be hosted in Lilongwe Malawi, on 26th to 29th October 2010. It will be one of the largest gatherings of the youth(15-35yrs), professionals, and activists on climate change in Southern Africa. This conference has three thematic areas namely; Adaptation, Mitigation and Lobby and Advocacy. This conference will lead to a 3 year climate change programme in Southern Africa that will be implemented through aregional climate change youth network .
SAYCCC 2010 is expected to bring together some 500 young activists and Climate Change practioners with about 500 international delegates. It will draw participation from Youth leaders, young professionals and young academicians, young politicians and young development workers; Governments and Parliaments, AU, the NEPAD Secretariat, Private Sector and Public Sector, Development Agencies and Intergovernmental Institutions; and the Media and UN specialized agencies such as UNDP, UNEP and others within the UN system.
There is need to mobilize the region’s youth around Climate Change in order to: reduce climate change
impacts and enhance community resilience within their communities in Southern Africa Enhance access to rural energy and empower rural populations, Facilitate increased agricultural productivity and improved food security through initiatives championed by youth organizations and wider communities
The Southern African Youth Conference on Climate Change is important to facilitate information exchange and integrated assessments to assist in identifying specific adaptation needs and concerns.
The Conference is wide in scope as it broadly covers the main issues relating to impacts, vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation to climate change in relation to Southern Africa.
The youths of southern Africa consider that Climate Change has created a huge ecological debt which the present and future generations of the developing world will disproportionately bear for hundreds of years. The developing world and indeed Southern Africa faces the greatest challenges in terms of the impacts of climate change and the capacity to respond to it.
We believe that the changing climate is increasingly having disastrous effects on the poor people, and the existence of some poor African countries is imperiled, while others face growing barriers to their efforts to achieve sustainable development. While, reports of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state that Africa will suffer the most from the impacts of climate change. We urge governments in the region and development partners to give this issue the urgency it deserves.
In his ‘ONE WORLD SAME DESTINY’ statement to the Sixty-Fourth Regular Session Of The United Nations General Assembly, New York Delivered On Thursday, 24™ September, 2009 His Excellency Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika President Of The Republic Of Malawi said as we quote “Mr. President, the threat of climate change is real. I believe that the price for complacency will be much higher if we fail to act today. For Africa and other developing countries we need to adequately address the issue of deforestation, environment degradation and agricultural productivity”
During one of the world largest gathering of the Youth on Climate Change organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the UNEP National Committee for the Republic of Korea, the UN Secretary-General emphasized the need for young people to start advocating for climate change action. He also emphasized that it is time for voices of the young people to be heard because they will inherit the outcomes of UN actions.
Malawi would be more ideal to host this conference since head of AU His Excellency Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika is the president of host country, Malawi and would therefore carry the concerns of the youth to AU.
The Local organising team in Malawi is now been chaired by the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. You can contact the Principal Secretary at this email : msekaas@hotmail.com> for reference.
Maynard Nyirenda
SECRETARIAT
LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Sustainable Rural Growth and Development Initiative (SRGDI)