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<\/p>\nThe Youth Forum of UNESCO WEEK 2024 was held under the initiative of the Youth Committee of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO on Sunday, 21 January 2024, at the Youth Education National Olympics Memorial Youth Centre. This forum aimed to provide the younger generation that is tackling climate change through UNESCO-related activities with a cross-disciplinary meeting place, as well as to raise and promote interest in climate change among a diverse range of young people.<\/p>\n
The theme of the forum was \u201cDeclaration for the Future: Cooperative Efforts between UNESCO and Japanese Youth Concerning Climate Change\u201d. Based on this theme, we prepared for the forum over five months from August, working on the planning and design through online meetings.<\/p>\n
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I was almost emotional on the day of the forum when I finally met face-to-face with the members of the Youth Committee of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO because, although we had been working together for quite some time, our meetings were online only, and it was our first time seeing each other in person. Since I was involved in the forum as a member of the committee throughout the preparation process from planning to implementation, I felt strongly committed to ensuring the event’s success for the benefit of the younger generation.<\/p>\n
The content of this Youth Forum included a report from the members of the Youth Committee of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO on their participation in the Youth Forum held at UNESCO Headquarters; a panel discussion titled \u201cYouth Generation’s Contribution to Solving Climate Change Issues: Focusing on the Role of UNESCO\u201d; sessions organised by the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural subcommittees respectively; a keynote speech by Mr Ryosuke Takashima (Mayor of Ashiya City); and workshops and group discussions aimed at drafting the \u201cDeclaration for the Future.\u201d Among these, the breakout sessions and the workshop and group discussions turned out to be particularly engaging.<\/p>\n
During the panel discussion, one remark stood out: \u201cPeople facing daily struggles for survival cannot afford to engage in UNESCO discussions about climate change or recycling.\u201d This served as a stark reminder of the nature of reality on which our discussion must stand. The breakout sessions were organised into three fields: education, science, and culture.<\/p>\n
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Education Breakout Session: “Education in Response to Climate Change Issues and Sustainable Development (ESD) ”<\/p>\n
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Science Breakout Session: \u201cScientific Communication: Countermeasures in Response to Climate Change\u201d<\/p>\n
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Culture Breakout Session: \u201cThe Value of Creative Cities as Places to Consider Earth-Friendly Lifestyles\u201d<\/p>\n
In the education breakout session I attended, I had the opportunity to hear from panellists\u2014high school students and teachers from Jiyu no Mori Gakuen. This experience made me feel that young people have tremendous potential in their energy, ideas, and creativity. At the same time, I would think that various constraints, consciously or unconsciously imposed by adults, such as \u201cthere’s no time to address the issues\u201d or \u201cthere are limits to what students can do\u201d, can also act as barriers to young people’s activities. On the other hand, as one of the teachers pointed out, the younger generation, including high school students, may sometimes face the challenge of lacking any political voice or leadership capacity. It would be beneficial if schools could create spaces to effectively support or work alongside them in that regard.<\/p>\n
In addition, whereas school education in the past focused on how to respond to societal change and transformation, I also heard that it now incorporates training for students to become agents of change. It was pointed out that when students take action and succeed, it gives them confidence that leads to further action. However, school education and environments that regard even minor stumbles by students as failures might erode such confidence. This being so, I figured that another crucial point was how teachers provide students with effective follow-up support.<\/p>\n
Finally, there was a comment that there should be places for activities to encourage student output. Local community spaces, such as libraries, museums, and community centres, were suggested as candidates. Given that individuals have differing abilities and accessibility in terms of funds, location, physical condition, etc., I felt that creating environments where output is possible both inside and around the classroom is also a crucial point in practicing ESD.<\/p>\n
Masamichi Kobayashi (Climate Youth Japan) On the other hand, I experienced firsthand the difficulty of dealing with ESD as a topic. Given that education is such a huge theme, discussions tend to lean towards macro-level observations rather than personal perspectives based on individual experiences. Such discussions often lead to certain answers and end before participants can even begin to address specific issues in the context that ESD is not widespread in our society yet and students have not experienced its significance and effectiveness. However, for instance, I expect new insights to emerge if we make it so that existing knowledge collides with the sentiment of current high school students\u2019 feelings and thoughts about adults and education (acknowledging the possibility that most young people do not have any particular thoughts about them). Personally, I regret not performing in the session as well as I thought I could during the preliminary discussions. If there is another opportunity, I wish to participate again after more careful preparation.<\/p>\n Message to participants and readers Moreover, a paradigm shift is occurring regarding the very nature of intergenerational relationships, and education will be significantly affected by this change. Through discussions such as this, I hope practical activities that contribute to both education and social sustainability will spread throughout society.<\/p>\n Associate Professor Tomoko Mori (Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University)<\/strong> Message to participants and readers Mr Masayuki Onizawa (President, Jiyunomori Gakuen Junior & Senior High School) The workshop and group discussions proved highly stimulating, offering diverse perspectives from fellow young participants. The analysis of sticky notes written by the participants of the education, science, and culture sessions at the end indicated that a relatively large number of people are interested in education. I would think that this is because education is part of everybody\u2019s life experience, regardless of one’s field of study. Moreover, education has another appeal in that it is not only for the young, but for all generations.<\/p>\n On the other hand, given that this session was held after a discussion about the need to incorporate intersectionality into education, rather than confining it within the single-topic framework, the relatively few sticky notes on science and culture seemed to indicate a lingering tendency to rely on a singular perspective. This may be an issue to work on in the future.<\/p>\n The event as a whole made me realise the importance of collaboration in all fields, including UNESCO, climate change, and education. We should collaborate not only with our counterparts but also with others in general since we are free from the binary framework of adults versus children. We must not forget that the society we live in is not driven by a handful of key figures but by each and every one of us. In addition, I also figured that it would be beneficial if we, the Youth Committee of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO, consider how to create opportunities for children and youth to collaborate with adults.<\/p>\n The Youth Forum of UNESCO WEEK 2024 was held under the initiative of the Youth Committee of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO on Sunday, 21 January 2024, at the Youth Education National Olympics Memorial Youth Centre. This forum aimed to provide the younger generation that is tackling climate change through UNESCO-related activities with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[13,11],"class_list":["post-7643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","category-youthnote","tag-unesco-week","tag-youth-committee-of-japanese-national-commission-for-unesco"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>Comment as a panellist of the session
\n<\/strong>While environmental events often focus on a single issue or discuss multiple problems simultaneously, this breakout session allowed us to discuss multiple issues under the overall theme, and in that sense seemed to me to be a relatively new and meaningful attempt. The moderation and online connectivity were also very smooth, and I believe that this event left a good impression on participants.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The subject of ESD spans the broad themes of education and sustainability and presents a complex challenge in which the issues of effectiveness, feasibility, and educational impact coexist. Adding to that, we must integrate ESD into education for children today so as to achieve the expected effects of enhancing sustainability by temporal benchmarks like 2030 or 2050. The urgency to address this issue, alongside its potentially long-term impact, is arguably comparable to that of climate change.<\/p>\n
\nComment as a panellist of the session<\/strong>
\nI was impressed by the enthusiastic participation of all the participants (youth and non-youth alike). As a speaker, I felt their passion, and it spurred me to give my best. It was such a great event, so from next time onwards, I would like to advertise it at my own university so that more youth can participate.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Global social issues like climate change can be depressing to think about, and their complexity might make the solutions seem too far out of reach. Even though such a mindset is widespread, there are still people who rise to the challenge with the spirit of \u201cLet\u2019s do something\u201d, and I find them truly remarkable. The key to persistence is to set many small, achievable goals in a step-by-step approach, while connecting with many like-minded people. You are not alone. Let’s go for it together!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This breakout session was the first UNESCO-related event I attended after a long break. As I stated during the session, the message of changing society and creating a new one sounded fascinating to me. It is often said that Japanese society has reached an impasse and that young people are becoming increasingly conservative. In this context, I thought it was highly impactful that the Youth Forum conveyed such an action-oriented message. I would suspect that we would not be able to resolve the climate change problem unless we fundamentally change the current situation where merely making minor environmental concessions is considered enough to project a sense of \u201cdoing something\u201d.<\/p>\n
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