Young People Are Changing Their Socio-Ecological Reality to Face Climate Change: Contrasting Transformative Youth Commitment with Division and Inertia of Governments

Alfredo Pena-Vega, Marianne Cohen, Luis Manuel Flores, Hervé Le Treut, Marcelo Lagos, Juan Carlos Castilla, Aurora Gaxiola and Pablo Marquet
Additional contact information
Alfredo Pena-Vega: Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Politique, EHESS-CNRS UMR 8177, 75006 Paris, France
Marianne Cohen: Geography and Planning Department, UR Mediations, Faculty of Letters, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, France
Luis Manuel Flores: Facultad de Educación, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
Hervé Le Treut: Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Membre de l’Académie des Sciences, 75005 Paris, France
Marcelo Lagos: Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
Juan Carlos Castilla: Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas and Centro de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
Aurora Gaxiola: Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas and Centro de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
Pablo Marquet: Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas and Centro de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: This paper contributes to a critical re-reading of the notion of climate services. It does so by problematizing the discontinuity between young people’s commitment to climate change, and the lack of a common vision regarding climate policy among governments. In this essay, youth commitment is characterized in terms of participation in the Global Youth Climate Pact (GYCP, 2015–2022). Here, young people share projects from their own high schools and communities and participate in a citizen consultation. Most projects have achieved a good success score, increasing over the years, especially for those carried out in emerging and developing countries. Some of them were presented at the COPs. In contrast, a textual analysis of intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) illustrates divergent understandings of the Paris Agreement and exemplifies the poor results of governmental climate diplomacy. This study establishes the need to closely monitor early warning signs of climate change in conjunction with high schools and school communities. The initiatives of young people are building a civic and planetary awareness for climate change in contrast with governmental division and inertia. In this sense, climate services, directed to young people, could contribute to design a sustainable future. We approach the practices, attitudes, and commitments of young people from the angle of cooperation rather than a moral vision of responsibility. Particularly, we propose a dialogical link between the treatment of climate issues and its effects on the constitution of networks, notably as they relate to practices of action, that is, the way in which distinct groups of young people develop relationships with their environments, organize themselves, and act and transform reality.

Keywords: young people; involvement; climate services; knowledge; awareness; transformation action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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