ALM UNDP

Youth moved to action for climate change adaptation in Namibia

Namibian beats, comedy, drama, dance, songs and artists. These were just some of the fun activities on the day of the Life’s Green Namibian Youth Action for Climate Change Festival. Over 900 secondary school learners and more than 200 members of the public enjoyed a range of edutainment items on the programme of Friday 10 June 2011 at the Zoo Park Amphitheatre. 

Charlie Fourie, Junior Mayor of the City of Windhoek, kicked off the festivities by reminding the crowds why climate change matters to young people in Namibia, “We are worst affected by the high rate of unemployment and often suffer the most in situations of extreme flooding events which have devastating effects on the economy, the lives of our families but also the lives and academic success of school-goers.”

The organisers of this event are the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in partnership with Nedbank Namibia, the Africa Adaptation Project Namibia, the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Japan. The general approach taken was to have an entertaining, fun and interactive event while raising awareness on climate change and climate change adaptation among Namibian youth. And by going beyond only providing a show for the children, the youth were given the platform to speak (or sing or dance) for themselves about these issues.

Hochland High School was one of schools that performed on the day and the Environmental Club delivered an outstanding drama on climate change. Helena, one of the members of the drama group, explained “Our drama was based on the causes, consequences and prevention tactics people can do in order to adapt to climate change. And because we are the future leaders of tomorrow we should be promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation through our environmental club to other children.”

And indeed, the leaders of today also have a responsibility to educate the youth about issues most likely to impact the lives of Namibians in the future. “The responsibility lies with the current generation to educate and raise awareness among the youth and especially to empower them through activities such as this festival” said Mr. Lesley Losper, Chief Conservationist in the Environmental Education Unit of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

The Festival also demonstrated a successful partnership between public and private institutions, where Nedbank Namibia provided support to this event through its Go Green Fund, started in 2001 as part of the realisation that protecting the environment is also a corporate responsibility. Gernot de Klerk, Communications Manager for Nedbank Namibia, reiterated that climate change is a reality, “What business needs to do now is look at how one operates profitably and sustainably in a carbon constrained future.”

The Youth Action for Climate Change Festival is part of a broader Climate Change Adaptation Youth Action Programme for Namibia. The Youth Action Programme focuses on climate change adaptation outreach and awareness to Namibian youth. The Programme also includes a national youth conference - an exciting event to be held 29-30 July 2011 for the interactive development of the youth-led Programme to empower young people in the decision-making process. The Youth Action Programme also aims to educate youth on climate change adaptation and address climate change and gender issues among young people in Namibia.

The Youth Action Programme is structured to include practical and easy-run applications (such as multi-media interaction and social networking web applications) as well as longevity through the use of existing national entities such as the National Youth Council (NYC). The Programme will also produce documentation of a youth outreach strategy that reaches a significant proportion of the youth demographic. The Programme also supports youth representatives to take ownership of various activities by undertaking initiatives and new projects for climate change adaptation and by having centralized youth agents in planning structures.