Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) Calls For DYSoC - 2008
A few months back, two young Indian environmentalists felt the immediate need to bring together the youth and youth based groups all over India - working on the issues of climate change, environmental equity and on the path to development in a climate constrained world. They went around figuring out the best ways to do this, attended seminars-workshops-conferences, got trained by Al Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri, went out of their way to learn, teach themselves and get involved with a lot of people and organizations all across the country. They also teamed up with other like minded youth, notably with an Indian residing in Australia and went on to launch the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN)!
The IYCN now, has called for one of its first - the Delhi Youth Summit on Climate (DYSoC) on the 28th and 29th of this month at the residence of India’s first Prime Minister Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, less than a mile away from both the President’s House and the Parliament of India.
With the ”Come Create History, By Writing the Future” tag-line, DYSoC 2008 attempts to bring together the youth of Delhi (between 18-30 age group), from different backgrounds and from all parts of the city to discuss, debate, share concerns, raise issues and find innovative solutions to the pressing problems being faced by the city at present, that would only get worse owing to climate change.
DYSoC was envisioned for the fact that Delhi, the seat of power of the world’s largest democracy makes little mention to climate change in its Master Plan 2021. At the same time, the city is very much under construction in an attempt to become a “world class city”, and a lot needs to be done to incorporate mitigation and adaptation to the changing climate today, lest it maybe too late tomorrow. And the youth, the future citizens and leaders of the country and its capital, need to have their voices heard to ensure their policy perspectives are incorporated in the plans of the decision makers of the city. For it is the youth that will inherit the city (and the Planet) from the present generation.
People from all over the country are moving into the capital for the Summit. The event is itself being sponsored by a lot of organisations viz., Fountain of Development Research & Action, LEAD India, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library The Climate Project - India, South Asian Youth Environment Network (SAYEN)/UNEP, Delhi Greens and the YP foundation. Every attempt is also being made to keep the event’s Carbon Footprint to a minimum. Shortly after the event, on 5th of June: the World Environment Day, Delhi Greens - the Delhi Wing of IYCN will be carrying out tree plantations in an attempt to make the event Carbon-neutral. The two day DYSoC event will conclude with a draft Delhi Youth Charter on Climate that will be presented to the Environment Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi at the end of the second day.
The next IYCN event will be the Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change (IYSoCC) in the city of Hyderabad. IYCN has members from all over the country and has been highlighted by the Indian media on more than one occasion. The thumbnail on the left is the news clip from the Hindustan Times: a leading Indian newspaper.
