According to the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) the UN biodiversity talks at COP15 put forward a text that acknowledges the necessary rights, roles and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples but leaves targets wide open for industry to continue biodiversity-destroying activities, land grabbing and even in protected areas.
For the Global Youth Biodiversity Network representative the draft agreement is weak and proposes false solutions.
“We don’t see a change with this framework. We feel it is going to bring another decade of more of the same. We don’t have ten more years for bad implementation. We cannot wait for the post-2030 biodiversity framework to see a change in direction. And we are very worried that this framework is not going to ensure the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment that has been promised to us and to future generations.” – Mirna Fernandez, GYBN Policy Co-coordinator.
The proposes solutions are relative and the text doesn’t proposes regulations for big polluters. It seem like the climate talks have been copied and pasted directly into the global biodiversity framework. But the GYBN representatives want to move forward.
“Although we are disappointed, we need to move forward with implementation, and we need to remember that young people are here and are going to be implementers. We are going to keep doing the work on the ground.” – Derrick Mugisha, GYBN Uganda, Coordinator
Is there still hope for the youth after the COP15 ? According to Cyrill Herrmann, there is hope in people that dream for a better world.
“It is not your global biodiversity framework, not your policies, nor your empty promises that give me hope that we can still overcome this crisis. It is us. We the youth, who stand up all over the world for the same goal, a future worth living for all, we who can organize and dare to dream for a better world. But once we are going to be the decision makers, I fear it’s going to be too late.” – Cyrill Herrmann
More than 100 youth delegates have been able to participate in COP-15, representing 50 youth chapters. The COP-15 Youth Summit, held 5 and 6 December, engaged over 3560 young people from more than 60 countries. The COP-15 Youth Days on 8 and 18 December have rallied the perspectives of youth.
