Hopes and Realities Children, Youth, and COP28

The annual climate summit, COP28 just wrapped up. And I as a youth belonging to a country that has been facing the burdens of climate change regularly, don't feel very glad about the outcomes of this COP.

First, almost 80,000 people attended COP this year, among which only a mere percentage of attendees were children and youth. This is a concern I have had in the past two COPs where the number of children and youth was very limited and over that, their presence had been minimized with several rules and regulations.

And when it came to the outcomes of COP28, I must say, the word game that was played was quite misleading for many people. "Transition away" is not exactly similar to "phase out". The children and youth around the world, the people around the world have been demanding a fossil fuel phase-out for the last 28 years, and now that the parties

have come to a consensus on "transition away", which undermines our demands and hopes. This also leaves several gaps on our path towards a just transition and a climate-just world. But beyond these, what I'm most concerned about is the Global Stocktake language and different texts proposed by the so-called developed nations. It worries me to see that many countries don't want to put any words about human rights which completely contradicts the fact that climate justice and a fair world can't be ensured without human rights.

These global climate processes determine the future of the world, the future of us, and the future of the generations to come. But then again, different strict rules and compliances have always weakened the children and youths' position in these global processes. Many countries have failed to recognize the need to include children and youth in their decision-making process, leaving us completely excluded from a process that's deciding our future. The situation got even worse when different countries proposed that they don't want children's participation in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). I'm seriously afraid after seeing some countries' positions in children's inclusion in their national actions.

These conferences are supposed to be a space for us, the children and youth of the world to get our seat on the table, to get our voices, and our demands heard and to ensure that our concerns are addressed, but I am quite skeptical after this COP, especially after hearing from different countries that they don't want children to be a part of their processes.

Though, a small ray of hope is that the children and the youth of the world are united as we are fighting against these malpractices, we are fighting to ensure our rights, and we are together, to protect our generations and the upcoming generations. And I must say, we are a generation of hope.

Amanullah Porag is the South Asia Mobilizations Coordinator at 350.org.