The young generation is the spearhead in dealing with climate change. This is because the future of climate-resilient development is in their hands. In the future, young people will also be the ones who determine pro-climate policies. For this reason, Kemitraan Indonesia, supported by the Adaptation Fund, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) and the Central Java Provincial Government, held Youth Camp 2024 in Bandungan, Semarang Regency on August 9-11, 2024. This activity is one of the efforts made by the Partnership to instill awareness of the younger generation on the impacts of climate change.
As is known, climate change is still an issue that has not been grounded, especially among young people. In fact, the impact of climate change has been very pronounced, especially for residents in the North Coast of Java such as Pekalongan City, Pekalongan Regency, Semarang City, Tegal City, Demak Regency, and Batang Regency. Coastal areas in these six regions are often inundated by tidal floods due to rising sea levels.
In his remarks, Kemitraan Indonesia Operations Officer Saiful Doeana said that the Youth Camp has been held from 2022 to 2024 every year. This activity is part of the Adaptation Fund program in Pekalongan City, one of which aims to involve young people in climate change adaptation efforts.
“We do this activity by expanding the network of participants so that it can become a forum for increasing the awareness of young people on climate change management, especially related to adaptation actions that can be carried out by all of us,” Saiful said after the opening of the Youth Camp 2024, located at Green Valley, Bandungan, Semarang Regency, Central Java, Friday (9/8/2024).
Saiful said Youth Camp 2024 was attended by 100 young people from six coastal areas of the North Coast of Java affected by climate change, namely Pekalongan City, Pekalongan Regency, Semarang City, Tegal City, Demak Regency, and Batang Regency. In the event, they were invited to understand climate change, which has become their daily problem. He said he was happy and appreciative of the interest of the participants who took part in this activity.
“The way they were invited to understand it was through game simulations and arts and culture. Thus, heavy topics such as climate change can be understood easily and become their daily conversation. This is because climate change also affects daily life, such as the disruption of food stocks due to the chaotic planting season. Likewise, tidal flooding is very disruptive to their daily activities such as studying or working,” he explained.
Soegiharto, Head of Watershed Management and Natural Resources Conservation of the Central Java Provincial Government, welcomed this activity. According to him, climate change control essentially aims to reduce ecological impacts. In addition, it also strengthens the economic and social resilience of the community through the creation of alternative livelihoods. Both of these require the role of the younger generation.
He hopes that the participation of the younger generation in climate change control is expected to encourage the growth of new thoughts and innovations to increase community resilience to deal with the impacts of climate change.
“The young generation is expected to contribute to society by actively creating innovations such as plastic processing, the use of digital technology in disaster early warning systems and climate information, and others,” Soegiharto said.
At the end of the Youth Camp 2024 event, all participants declared the concrete actions they would take in the future.
“Thus, it is hoped that they can initiate the climate change adaptation movement in their respective regions,” he hoped.
The same thing was expressed by the Regional Secretary of Pekalongan City, Nur Priyantomo, who expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Kemitraan Indonesia for always involving young people to jointly realize the impact of climate change.
“Young people have the opportunity to increase environmental awareness. Several things can be done through more comprehensive environmental education, providing information that is more accessible and understandable, and involving young people in fun environmental activities. This is because climate change adaptation is the responsibility of all parties, including young people, not just the government,” he concluded. (Dian).
Source: Pekalongan City