African and Ghana youth voices were taken into account in the
Rio+20
Climate change is all about intergenerational equity and therefore the
youth play a very important role in the national, regional and international
negotiations and decision making. Rio+20 was a ground breaking conference which
brought thousands of people together on the same platform to reaffirm and renew
their political commitment to ensuring sustainable development. Therefore, like
many of such conferences the participation of youth was highly anticipated.
Unfortunately, only few countries in Africa (Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Mali,
Nigeria and Djibouti) had Youth as part of their official delegation. Even
though there were quite a number of youth who participated as observers but
their participation did not have so much influence on the outcome document
since they were not part of the negotiations.
I think so. Personally, I don’t think the voices of youth were taken
into account during the conference. Just accepting or admitting a position
paper from youth is not enough. Countries who participate in such conferences
should be tasked with ensuring that the concerns raised by the youth are
tackled at the national level down to the local level. This will help the youth
to appreciate issues at stake and make informed contributions to the processes.
By Kenneth Nana Amoateng,
Chief Executive Officer
Abibimman Foundation
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