Praying for COP28 - Youth, Children, Education & Skills

COP28 - 8 December 2023
Youth, Children, Education & Skills

Today COP28 will address the topic of, and we will pray about, children and young people.

Young people are more aware of the climate crisis than older generations, and more engaged in responding to it. However, when it comes to decision-making on climate, young people often lack a seat at the table. Despite this it is children and young people are also helping to lead the way in caring for their environment and raising awareness of the impact climate change is having.

Young people have been articulate and powerful in their demands for action. Think of Greta Thunberg and the 'Fridays for Future' weekly student climate strike protests around the world. There is a growing generation of young human rights defenders who are taking the lead in climate litigation to hold governments and business accountable.

“The climate crisis poses an “existential risk” to the health and wellbeing of all children and action to tackle it is needed immediately. Air pollution, extreme weather and unprecedented energy costs ... having a very real and detrimental effect on millions of children” (Dr. Camilla Kingdon)."

A short prayer

Father, we thank you for the passion and energy of young people challenging those in authority to be accountable for their actions. Forgive us that we quickly lose sight of the individual children – loved and precious to you, their parents, their communities in statistics and numbers. We pray for children and young people adversely impacted by eco-anxiety – the chronic fear of environmental doom. We pray for justice for those impacted most by the actions of others.

A longer prayer

Loving Lord, your word reminds us how much you value and love children and young people. We pray for the climate crisis and the devastating impact on children’s lives and future generations.

We thank you for young people and their passion and conviction to care for and protect your world for the common good. We pray that their actions and words will be taken seriously. We ask that they will have a seat at the table of decision makers to inform and influence what happens. We ask that governments will harness the skills and energy of young people in order to respond effectively to climate change.

We ask that as adults, we’ll strive to protect the world that they will grow up in. We thank you for organisations and local churches who are doing incredible work to protect your precious ecosystems, children, and their communities. Amen

Adapted from Compassion and World Economic Forum: 3 ways to engage young people for effective climate action

From the Bible

Daniel 1:3-20

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility - young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Luke 2: 43-47

After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

Issues

- As described on Day 1, one of the two major injustices at the heart of climate change is that its negative impact will fall chiefly on our children, grand-children, great-grand-children. Most of the difficult and gruelling work of reducing emissions of CO2 and methane, and addressing the climatic, financial and political impacts of climate change will fall on their shoulders too. They need our prayers and we need their forgiveness.
- On 21st October 2023 the Guardian reported Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, saying that The climate crisis poses an “existential risk” to the health and wellbeing of all children and action to tackle it is needed immediately. Air pollution, extreme weather and unprecedented energy costs were having a very real and detrimental effect on millions of children, she said. She goes on to say that multiple studies have found that Rising temperatures around the world as a result of the climate crisis are having a devastating effect on foetuses, babies and children. The damage inflicted on children by the climate crisis was not limited to physical ill health, Kingdon said. “The mental health effects of climate change on children are significant and may be long lasting. Children exhibit high levels of concern over climate change and the mental health consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, phobias, sleep disorders, attachment disorders and substance abuse, can lead to problems with learning, behaviour, and academic performance.”

Kingdon said as a result of health inequalities in the UK, some children were suffering the ill-effects more than most. “Climate change poses an existential risk to the health and wellbeing of all children. However, the current impacts of climate change are not experienced equally.

Unicef (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund now known as United Nations Children's Fund) states
- - Climate change poses a major threat to children and young people’s health, nutrition, education, development, survival and future potential. Compared to adults, children require more food and water per unit of their body weight, are less able to survive extreme weather events, and are more susceptible to toxic chemicals, temperature changes and diseases, among other factors.
  - Critically, current and future generations of children will have to navigate an uncertain future where the current model of growth that links economic development to environmental exploitation is no longer viable.
  - Children in communities that have contributed the least to global emissions will face the greatest impacts of climate change. Building the resilience of social services that these children will depend upon is critical to reduce the risks they will face.

Hope

Within the United Nations, and the COP talks some measures are being taken to incorporate the voices of young people. “The COP28 Youth Climate Champion, Minister Shamma Al Mazrui has elevated meaningful youth participation through programs such as the International Youth Delegates program (IYDP), which provides the opportunity for 100 youth from small island and developing states (SIDS), least developed countries (LDCS), as well as indigenous and climate vulnerable communities, to be included in the process for the first time. This program and others will continue to ensure that the voices of youth are front and centre at COP28” (Message From President Designate P.6)”
Let Justice Roll Like a River (International version) - Fischy Music/Christian Aid
In January 2023 26 nature and climate youth leaders were at Davos 2023 for the World Economic Annual Forum which is where leaders from governments and businesses address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead. The 26 youth delegates focused on nature and climate education, advocacy, innovation and entrepreneurship to safeguard the planet.
In September 2023 100 people met for a Youth Conference – Eco-activists for justice and peace in Mumbai. The event provided young individuals with a valuable opportunity to learn, collaborate, and engage in the fight against climate change while promoting justice and peace in the process.
In August the Pope attended the 37th World Youth Day in Lisbon and urged the 500,000 young people to use the privilege of their educations to protect the environment, care about poor and marginalized people, and to “redefine what we mean by progress and development.” He went on to say “Yours can be the generation that takes up this great challenge," he said. “We need to align the tragedy of desertification with that of refugees, the issue of increased migration with that of a declining birth rate, and to see the material dimension of life within the greater purview of the spiritual."
In May more than 200,000 teens, young people and families in the Run4Unity, a worldwide relay race, across five continents in 63 countries uniting them across ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds to build peace and planting more than 2600 trees. The focus was “People, Planet and Our Ecological Conversion”.
The Guardian newspaper reported in September 'Girl, 11, among 6 young people taking on 32 nations in historic climate case'

COP28 discussions

The specific discussions on the COP28 table today include:

Climate friendly school meals initiative: by School Meals Coalition
From Most Vulnerable to Most Valuable: UN committeee on the rights of the Child
Dubai Youth Climate Dialogue: youth-led

Find out more

COP28 details for children and young people theme.
August 2021 UNICEF published a report The Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), found almost every child on earth is exposed to at least one climate and environmental hazard, such as heatwaves, cyclones, air pollution, flooding and water scarcity.
Approximately 1 billion children – nearly half the world’s children - live in 33 countries classified in the Index as “extremely high-risk”. These children face a deadly combination of exposure to multiple climate and environmental shocks with a high vulnerability due to inadequate essential services, such as water and sanitation, healthcare and education.
An estimated 850 million children – over one third of all children – live in areas where at least four of climate and environmental shocks overlap, and as many as 330 million children live in areas affected by a staggering five major climate shocks.
Children from countries that contribute the least to climate change suffer the greatest consequences. The 33 extremely high-risk countries collectively emit 9 per cent of CO2 emissions. The 10 highest-risk countries collectively emit only 0.5 per cent of global emissions.
Improving the resilience of key services that children depend upon is often the best investment to reduce the risks they face.
Access to resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services reduces risks for 415 million children.
Climate-smart health services reduce risks for 460 million children.
Resilient schools and education systems reduce risks for 275 million children and climate-responsive social safety nets reduce risks for 310 million children.

UNICEF is calling on governments to:
- - Increase investment in climate adaptation and resilience.
  - UNICEF urges developed countries to exceed their 2009 promise to mobilize $US100 billion annually in climate finance in light of evidence that these sums are insufficient to address the scale of climate impacts. UNICEF urges a greater emphasis on funding to build climate resilience and adaptive capacity.
  - Mitigation efforts will take decades to reverse the impacts of climate change, and for the children of today, this will be too late. Unless we invest heavily in adaptation and resilience of social services for the 4.2 billion children born over the next 30 years, these children will face increasingly high risks to their survival and well-being.
  - Critical services must be adapted, such as water, sanitation and hygiene systems, health and education services.

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COP28 - 8 December 2023Youth, Children, Education & Skills