Climate change activists have called on the government of Zimbabwe to find ways of promoting the participation of young people in climate change intervention activities so as to tap into their knowledge and innovativeness.
Climate change activist from Environmental Rights Advocacy Trust, Lisa Chitura expressed concern that young people in rural and urban agricultural communities know about climate change but are ignorant on intervention mechanisms.
“We engaged young people in agriculture and they are aware of climate change but they said they will keep on doing what they have been doing all these years. This means we need to teach them new ways they can use as a way to adapt to climate change,” she said.
Chitura also added that they is a gap that needs to be addressed which has caused most youths not to participate in the climate change policy process.
“Most people who participate in climate change issues are mostly those who did geography and environmental science of which these issues affect everyone. We need to come up with methods to engage young people at an early age so that they can help us come up with innovations and solutions on how to tackle climate change issues,” she added.
In Zimbabwe, young people constitute 60 percent of the total population which means their actions will add a quantitative value of climate ambition.
According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 20 calls for the State and all government agencies and institutions to ensure that youths have opportunities to associate, be represented and participate in all spheres of life while section 73 gives every person the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations.
Youth participation is also provided for in the African Union Agenda 2063 as well as African Youth Charter.
Article 19 (2) of the African Youth Charter states that States should recognize the vested interest of young people in protecting the natural environment as the inheritors of the environment.
At a global level, the third priority of the United Nations Youth Strategy also calls for member states to enhance the capacity of the green economy to create more and better employment opportunities for young people, in wages and self-employment.
Another climate change activist, Dr Keith Phiri encouraged youths to participate in climate change issues.
“Ghana is now leading in manufacturing solar-powered cars and they employed over 300 young women in producing those cars. This is what we should copy and increase youth participation in making positive solutions to climate change,” said Phiri.
He urged the government to use different ways and campaigns to get the youths on board to make a change.
“Youth are better placed to develop more innovative technologies needed for both mitigation and adaptation as they are currently being faced with the imperatives of both Education 5.0 and the new primary and secondary curriculum framework,” added Phiri.
Considering that youths constitute the greater percentage of social media users, Phiri said information flow should improve so that they do not have to struggle to get it.
One of the youths from rural Zimbabwe, Nyasha Chinembiri disagreed with the view that the people in the rural communities have little understanding of climate change.
“The people in the rural have a better understanding of the climate phenomena. They depend on the environment for most of their needs. So if there is climate change, they got it first before acid rain fell on the roofs of the metropolitan. Possibly, the climate scientists speak on cross purposes with the rural people as a result of language issues, such as anything expressed in a local dialect, not English or French, is not knowledge.
“I think there is a need for a holistic approach in climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience because in any process meant for the community or Youths there is a need for the involvement of those groups which will help in the acceptance and sustainability of the intervention. Let us engage the communities and hear from them what they see as the best ways to respond to the climatic conditions. This is because the community has the ideas on how they can or how they used to respond to these challenges. Also, let’s try to coordinate the “modern” and the Indigenous knowledge systems that are favorable in our communities,” she said.
