The youth is the spearhead in dealing with climate change. This is because the future of climate-resilient development is in their hands. Later, the youth will also be the ones who determine pro-climate policies.
For this reason, KEMITRAAN, through the support of 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. Youth Camp 2024 is one of the efforts made by KEMITRAAN to instill awareness of the youth on climate change.
As is known, climate change is still an issue that has not been grounded, especially among young people. Even though the impact of climate change has been felt, 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.
Therefore, through Youth Camp 2024, young people from the six regions are invited to understand climate change, which has become their daily problem. They were invited to understand it through game simulations and art and cultural performances. Thus, heavy topics such as climate change can be understood easily and become their daily conversation. This is because climate change also affects their daily lives, such as the disruption of food stocks due to the chaotic planting season. Likewise, tidal floods greatly disrupt their daily activities such as studying or working.
In his remarks, KEMITRAAN Operations Director Saiful Doeana said the Youth Camp has been held from 2022 to 2024 every year. This 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 raising awareness of young people on climate change management, especially related to adaptation actions that can be carried out by all of us,” Saiful said.
“We are very happy and appreciate the enthusiasm of our friends in participating in this activity, where there are approximately 100 young people from three cities and three districts who attended,” he continued.
The same thing was conveyed by the Head of Watershed Management and Natural Resources Conservation Division of the Central Java Provincial Government, Soegiharto. He said climate change control essentially aims to reduce ecological impacts. It also strengthens the economic and social resilience of the community through the creation of alternative livelihoods. Both of these things really 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 youth 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 Youth Camp 2024, all participants will declare the concrete actions they will take in the future. Thus, it is hoped that they can initiate climate change adaptation movements in their respective regions.
For information, the Adaptation Fund program in Pekalongan City has been running since 2021. Along the way, KEMITRAAN and the Pekalongan City Government have made a number of efforts to address climate change such as mangrove planting to reduce the risk of rising sea levels. KEMITRAAN has also helped procure urban farming facilities and systems for farmers who lost their land due to tidal flooding.
In addition, in the Adaptation Fund program in Pekalongan City, KEMITRAAN also actively involves the community. In eight urban villages affected by tidal floods, KEMITRAAN involves its citizens to carry out climate change adaptation programs such as mangrove planting and urban farming. KEMITRAAN also actively involves the youth of Pekalongan City in climate resilience actions to build awareness of protecting the environment.
ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP FOR GOVERNANCE REFORM (KEMITRAAN)
For two decades KEMITRAAN has worked to promote the principles of good and transparent governance in government, society and business in line with the principles of anti-corruption, human rights and natural sustainability.
KEMITRAAN builds close networks with international institutions, national governments and grassroots movements, to collaborate strategically. KEMITRAAN is currently the only Indonesian organization accredited to channel international Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund for developing countries’ resilience to climate change.
In 2020, KEMITRAAN was included in the 2020 Think Tank with the Most Significant Impact on Public Policy category issued by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program from the University of Pennsylvania, America. In 2021 KEMITRAAN officially joined the UNCAC Coalition, a global network of more than 100 countries committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of UNCAC (United Nations Convention Against Corruption).
For more information, visit www.kemitraan.or.id
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Rakhmat Nur Hakim