ICIMOD’s Youth Initiative – Youth for Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD): A legacy of its own

ICIMOD’s Youth Forum timeline:

2010: SERVIR-Himalaya Youth Forum on Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Actions 1-6 October 2010 in Kathmandu, Nepal

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2011A: Asia Pacific Youth Forum on Climate Actions and Mountain Issues, 8-12 August 2011 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2011B:  SERVIR-Himalaya Sub-regional Youth Forum (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) on Climate Actions in the Himalaya at Bhutan Climate Summit, 14 – 19 November 2011 in Thimpu, Bhutan

2011C: SERVIR-Himalaya National Youth Forum on Climate Change, 5-8 December 2011 in Islamabad, Pakistan

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2012A: SERVIR-Himalaya National Youth Forum on Climate Change, 23-26 January 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2012B: Global Youth Forum on Mountain Issues and Sustainable Actions at Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2012C: Asia Pacific Graduates' Youth Forum on Green Economy, 25-29 September 2012 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2012D: South Asian Youth Forum on Mountain Issues and Sustainable Actions in Islamabad, Pakistan (planned)

Other Major Youth Activities:

2009A: E-discussion on The Young Can Do! Let's Protect Forests with Our Hands, 29 April to 27 May 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal

2009B: Beginning of the youth for Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD) initiative at ICIMOD, with launch of the special report ‘The Young Can Do!’, 12 August 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal

2009C: Cosponsored First South Asian Youth Summit on Climate Change,  3-6 September 2009, Dhulikhel, Nepal

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2010A: ICIMOD-British Council First Café Scientifique in Asia on Climate Change Adaptation, 25 February 2010 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2010B: ICIMOD-British Council Workshop on Creating a Sustainable Network of Climate Change Champions from Bangladesh, Nepal and Uzbekistan, 19-24 September 2010  in Kathmandu, Nepal

2010C: Cosponsored International Graduate Conference on Climate Change and People, 15-19 November 2010 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2010-2011: Promoting Herbal Gardens in Schools

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2011A: Youth and Climate Change Poster Competition, January-February 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal

2011B: ICIMOD-British Council Youth Corner on Climate Change Adaptation, 12 March 2011 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2011C: ICIMOD-British Council Café Scientifique on 'Climate Change and Water' with Dr Garrett Kilroy, 25 March 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal

2011D: South and Central Asia regional virtual consultation on youth perspectives on Rio +20, 9-29 May 2011 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2011E: Asia Pacific Youth on Green Economy-Special Side Event at the UNEP-TUNZA Conference, 27 September 2011 in Bandung, Indonesia

2011F: Contributed to Panel Discussion on Youth Engagement on Climate Change & Rio+20 Processes at UNFCCC COP17, 8 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa

2011G: ICIMOD-CONDESAN-SDC and VerbierGPS: Engaging Children and Youth in Mountain Development (Asia, Europe and South America) – Test launch of the World Mountain Forum, 11 December 2011 in Kathmandu, Nepal

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2012A: Earth Debate in the Hindu Kush–Himalayas - 'Ecosystem economics – can we put a price on nature?', 24 February 2012 in Kathmandu, Nepal

2012B: Youth and Adaptation panel discussion at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum, 12-13 March 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand

2012C: Youth Perspectives on Promoting Green Economy in South and Central Asia at Planet Under Pressure 2012, 26 March 2012, in London, UK

2012D: Formation of ‘Asia Pacific’ and ‘Nepal’ task Forces on Rio+20 and advocacy in Nepal, HKH and globally, January-August 2012 (http://nepaliyouthrio20.blogspot.com/,http://rioplus20.blogspot.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/APY.Rioplus20)

2012E: ICIMOD Funded Youth Alumni organised ‘Youth and Green Economy’ and ‘My sustainable dream and practice’ side events at the UNCSD MGCY Youth Blast Conference, 8-12 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ICIMOD Publications on Youth:

2009: The Young Can Do! Let's Protect Forests with Our Hands : e-discussion summary, 12 August 2009 (International Youth Day)

2010: Asia-Pacific Mountain Courier : Special issue on youth and climate change

2011: Asia-Pacific Mountain Courier : Special issue on youth action for climate change through art (International Youth Day)

2011: Asia- Pacific Mountain Courier : Special issue on youth perspectives on Rio+20

2011: Conserve, Construct and Celebrate Mountains: Test Launch of the World Mountain Forum (WMF) for Sustainable Development, 11 December 2011 (International Mountain Day)

ICIMOD Multimedia Products aimed at Youth:

2011: Herbal Gardens in Schools

2011: The Hindu Kush-Himalayan approach to conservation, construction, and celebration

2011: Prakriti Prem (Nature Love)

2012: Sights and sounds of the mountains

For more information:

Tek Jung Mahat, Team Leader and Utsav Maden, Events Manager at youthmedia@icimod.org.

Sharing Workshops on Rio+20 : Flash Back-Youth Perspective, Biratnagar

-By Kabita Gautam

On 14th August 2012, a one day sharing workshop on Rio+20 was organized by Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 in with support from UNESCO, SEN and ICIMOD. There were around 18 youth participants from the regions who have been working on the environment and social issue and some students from conservation science background. The workshop was one among the series of the programs organized in Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Sharing Workshops on Rio+20 : Flash Back-Youth Perspective, Pokhara

-By Kabita Gautam

On 13th August 2012, the regional level sharing program was organized in Pokhara in collaboration with HRELIC-Kaski with support from UNESCO, SEN and ICIMOD. In the program, a representative from youth organizations, media persons, human rights activists, and students were involved. Nepal’s green economy sectors and their status, Nepalese youth position as compared to the international youth, Nepal’s voice in Rio+20 and major achievements from the Conference were shared among twenty six participating youth.

Call for applications for the Asia-Pacific Graduates' Youth Forum on Green Economy 25–29 September 2012 Nepal

Through its Asia-Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has been engaging youth and building their capacity to bring about positive changes in society through several different initiatives. Since it began in 2009, the global membership of the Youth Engagement in Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD) initiative has grown to 2,000 members, a majority of whom are from ICIMOD’s regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. In 2010, ICIMOD started organizing youth forums in member countries to build the technical capacity and leadership skills of youth in the region as well as enhance their knowledge on the most burning issues in mountain development. In 2011, these forums were expanded to include the entire Asia-Pacific region, and the recent Global Youth Forum on Mountain Issues and Sustainable Actions, held in conjunction with the Rio+20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, included participants from around the globe.

Sharing Workshops on Rio+20 : Flash Back-Youth Perspective, Kathmandu

- By Kabita Gautam and Shreejana Bhattarai

Welcoming and remarking the International Youth Day 2012, Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 organized “Sharing Workshop on Rio+20: Flash Back- Youth Perspectives” at NEFEJ Hall, Thapathali. The program was supported by UNESCO, SEN ICIMOD, WWF and NEFEJ. The program was organized to share the experiences, learning and key messages of the youth who participated in the Rio+20 Conference with the youths and media persons. Twenty eight youth from different educational background and media persons participated in the program.

Online Discussion : Inputs and Comments on Education, 19th-22nd June 2012

-By Kabita Gautam

Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 organized 3 days online discussion program on “Inputs and Comments on Education, 19th-22nd June 2012” where more than fifty youth have participated. The discussion was done during the Rio+20 Conference at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during which youth from Nepal different countries had an analysis on the Issue “Education” in their country and have given their views on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The discussion was facilitated by Ms. Kabita Gautam who shared the updated paragraph on “Education” and collected some views from the youth who participated in the discussion.

Global Youth Forum on Mountain Issues and Sustainable Actions 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

-By Kabita Gautam and Shreejana Bhattarai

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) along with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Mountain Partnership organized "Global Youth Forum on Mountain Issues and Sustainable Actions" on 15 June 2012 at Mountain Pavilion, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Asia Pacific Youth Task Force on Rio+20, Activating Talent in Sustainability (ACTIS)/Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES), Earth Charter International (ECI), Peace Child International (PCI)/Road to Rio+20 and UNCSD Major Group on Children and Youth (MGCY) were the co-organizers of this event.

Interaction Program on Education for Sustainable Development!!

-By Shreejana Bhattarai

Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 conducted third series of the interaction program “Mobilize the Earth from Earth Day to Earth Summit” on 2nd June. It was jointly organized by Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 along with Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Earth Day Network, WWF Nepal, The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Webinar on Mountain Agenda and Rio+20

After organizing different workshops, consultation and interaction programs regarding different themes of Rio+20 and Mountain Issues, Asia Pacific Youth Task Force on Rio+20 has decided to organize a webinar jointly with ICIMOD, Earth Charter and UNCSD MGCY. It aims to strengthen the voice of youth from HKH Region at global level creating an opportunity for the youth to form a network from local level to global level. It will also provide the youth around the world a virtual platform to exchanges their views and knowledge.

Interaction Program (Series I) : Mobilize the Earth from Earth Day to The Earth Summit (Rio+20)

-By Kabita Gautam

On the occasion of 42nd anniversary of Earth day, the series of Interaction Programs kicked off in Kathmandu which was jointly organized by Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20 along with Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ), Earth Day Network, WWF Nepal, The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Why Nepal Youth Task Force on Rio+20?

Global context

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) a.k.a. ‘Rio+20 offers an unique opportunity to redefine environment and sustainability issues in the changed context and for many years to come. Scheduled from 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the same city that hosted largest ever environmental conference United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 3-14 June 1992 a.ka. Rio Summit, this conference is expected to review progresses made in environmental sector in last two decades, identify development gaps, note new challenges emerged over two decades and develop way forward for next few decades. Several governments, UN agencies and civil society groups are contributing in Rio+20 process, making it the most ambitious environmental event in the history. Often ignored or avoided, YOUTH as one of nine Major Groups are preparing to ensure sustainability of the planet by making meaningful contributions for the success of this event.