Youth urged to keep pushing for climate justice

Young people have been urged to remain steadfast in climate justice advocacy and continue to push for a fairer deal for small island developing states.

The encouragement came from Minister of Labour, Social Security, and the Third Sector Colin Jordan as he delivered the feature address at the Third International Study and Training Session for the Promotion of South-to-South Cooperation for Youth Leaders on Tuesday.

Hosted by the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, the event focused on empowering young leaders to address pressing global challenges, particularly climate change.

Jordan said that although larger carbon-emitting countries have been slow over the years to recognise the importance of giving support to smaller countries on the front line of climate change, it was important for countries like Barbados to continue their advocacy.

“In order to get reaction, response, to get what is necessary for us to survive, we have to talk, we have to engage, we have to push, we have to metaphorically fight for what we want. Engagement does not produce all that you want when you want it, but you have to keep engaging,” the minister said.

“Young people need to be fully a part of addressing climate and climate justice. It will affect food security, water security…. This matter is existential. It’s not just for the Global South, but one day the Global North will wake up and recognise that this matter of the climate crisis is also existential for [them]. It is your responsibility to keep educating them. We have to keep engaging them because we have to get ourselves out of the situation that we are in. The world is not on a sustainable trajectory.”

Describing the climate crisis as a predominantly man-made issue, Jordan addressed the impact of policies from the global north on civil society organisations in the Global South. He added that caution must be taken against relying solely on external assistance, stressing the importance of regional self-reliance and collaboration.

“Now there are all kinds of things and all kinds of pressures brought to bear on small civil society organisations because of rules made in places where people are not as impacted as we are. Rules from the Global North [are] significantly impacting our organisations in the Global South. We have to be a little bit more self-reliant. While we call on the Global North to do the repair work for the damage they have caused in reparations, we have at the same time to make sure that our organisations are sustainable so that they can be effective in doing the work that is necessary,” he said.

“We are not to believe that there is a saviour coming from the global north to help us with our issues. South-to-South has to be high on our agenda.”