17 February 2012. ICIMOD’s Asia Pacific
Mountain Network (APMN) is implementing Youth for Sustainable Mountain
Development (Y4SMD) initiative with the objective of improving youth
engagement in advocating Mountain Agenda with a strong vocal in the changed
context of Rio+20 and increasingly important UNFCCC and CBD processes, with
financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC). The
implemented activities have Asia Pacific geographic scope as APMN also acts as
Asia Pacific coordinating unit (platform- Node/Hub) of the Mountain Forum (MF)
and the Mountain Partnership (MP) – two global initiatives advocating for
sustainable mountain development (SMD).
One of the special activities
under this initiative was to improve Asia Pacific youth’s engagement in
advocating Mountain Agenda in the context of upcoming Rio+20 meeting. Started
in May 2011 in partnership with global and regional youth initiatives including
Rio+Twenties, Road to Rio +20, UN CSD Youth Caucus/UNCSD Major Group on
Children and Youth, 350.0rg, Activating Talent in Sustainability (ACTIS),
Adaptation Knowledge Platform (AKP), Asia and the Pacific Adaptation Network
(APAN), Eco-Singapore, Peace Child International, Schumacher College UK,
Systainability Asia, UNEP TUNZA, and the Small Earth Nepal, we have made
significant progress in achieving this objective. In fact the Asia
Pacific Youth on Rio +20 (Earth Summit 2012) is the largest Asia Pacific
Youth Group working towards Rio+20 meeting
in June 2012 and the only youth group advocating
Mountain Agenda at global level. With 1650 Facebook likes, 555 virtual community members, two
submissions to the UNCSD Secretariat (Asia Pacific Youth Position Paper
Towards Rio+20 and Asia
Pacific Youth Declaration on Climate Change and Sustainable Development),
dedicated blog and number of
dedicated articles this group is making notable contributions leading up to
Rio+20 meeting. Moreover ICIMOD through APMN has trained over 200 youth
and 50 media persons representing 17 Asia Pacific countries on climate change
and green economy over last couple of years. Read more at http://www.icimod.org/rio20 and http://rioplus20.blogspot.com/ .
- Tek Jung Mahat
