AYCC and the 8th Conference of Youth in Qatar!

This weekend the AYCC will participate in the eight Conference of Youth (COY8). COY is an annual international youth climate conference that has been held in the days leading up to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) since COP11 in Montreal in 2005.

Each year COY is organised and facilitated by the International Youth Climate Movement, which is made up of youth climate change organisations from around the world. Around 500 youth are expected to attend COY this year. Though only in its eighth year, COY is a key moment in the calendar of a young climate activist, something recognised not only by the youth themselves but by the broader international climate movement. This year, noted environmentalist Bill McKibben, founder of the leading global environmental organisation 350.org, will address the conference as a keynote speaker, along with Wael Hmaidan, director of Climate Action Network International, and Naomi Klein, internationally acclaimed and best-selling author.

The conference has specific focuses that change from year to year, but the overarching goals are: building the capacity of the Youth Climate Movement; skill-sharing between young people; and initiating international campaign collaborations by building strong, effective and long-lasting connections between youth. COY also aims to prepare youth for COP and introduce delegates to the UNFCCC process.

These goals are achieved both with workshops developed and facilitated by youth and with breakout sessions for working groups (such as actions, policy, and communications) that will operate during COP, allowing young people to bring their diverse experiences together into a central working space. Workshops this year include UNFCCC process crash courses, “Gender and Climate Change”, and regionally-specific workshops such as “Crisis of the Island”, which is designed to inspire and equip youth to take action in Doha and their home countries.

A core focus for the AYCC’s Qatar delegation is building the capacity of the International Youth Climate Movement, and COY is a great opportunity for us to work towards this goal. Our team will be running a number of workshops and skill-shares at COY. We’ve also been helping to organise the conference, with our youngest delegate, 16-year-old Hayden Williams, co-coordinating the mammoth task of organising the entire COY program.

At the end of COY, AYCC will be pitching an op-ed piece in the Australian media to share the conference’s highlights and achievements with our supporters back home so….watch this space!

- Lovisa Muyderman, AYCC COP18 Delegate

The AYCC is building a generation-wide movement to solve the climate crisis
www.aycc.org.au