Context:

Global intergenerational environmental justice and meaningful, future-just and effective actions can only be achieved by fostering inclusive and diverse leadership and representation from all generations in multilateral environmental governance.

Engagement of young people in multilateral biodiversity governance has gained growing recognition in recent years, reflected in initiatives such as the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN, since 2012), the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s emphasis on inclusive participation, and UNESCO’s efforts to engage young people through programmes such as the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Youth Programme (MAB Youth). However, the voices and perspectives of young people remain under-represented in the national and global decision-making processes, and their engagement and active contribution continue to face barriers and tokenism, including the lack of technical and legal knowledge, negotiation and leadership skills, relevant networks as well as the willingness and confidence of governments to integrate them into their negotiation teams on an equal basis, underpinned by funding scarcity to attend negotiations continuously.

Founded in 2022, Youth Negotiators Academy (YNA) systemically transforms multilateral decision-making and creates a culture of inter- and intra-generational cooperation and solidarity. It achieves this by nurturing a global community of compassionate, trusted, and effective young negotiators to successfully lead and deliver inclusive, innovative, and impactful outcomes. Over the past four years, YNA has successfully developed specialised training programmes to strengthen young people’s participation in the Rio Conventions, namely the Climate Youth Negotiators Programme (CYNP), focused on the UNFCCC process, and the Land Youth Negotiators Programme (LYNP), dedicated to engagement in the UNCCD. Thus far, YNA has enabled and accompanied more than 800 young people from over 100 countries and created a community that truly is cross-delegational, centering the shared common ground above national or regional interests.

YNA has been fully committed to strengthening synergies across the Rio Conventions through its training programmes since the onset. Announced at COP16 in Cali, YNA is finally launching the Biodiversity Youth Negotiator Programme (BYNP) in partnership with GYBN (international youth coordination platform to the CBD) to complete YNA’s engagement across all three Rio Conventions, and becoming a unique platform for fostering cross-convention learning, collaboration, and policy coherence among the next generation of environmental leaders. BYNP seeks to strengthen meaningful young people’s participation in CBD processes by providing young professionals from governments and civil society with the knowledge, skills, networks and financial support needed to contribute effectively and meaningfully to biodiversity negotiations and implementation efforts at local, national, and international levels.

Description:

This side event will officially launch the Biodiversity Youth Negotiators Programme (BYNP), in collaboration with GYBN, YNA’s third training programme to be implemented in 2027. It will bring together young leaders, negotiators, and biodiversity experts to discuss how intergenerational collaboration and meaningful young people’s participation in multilateral biodiversity governance can strengthen the Rio Conventions synergies implementation.

As the first public presentation of the programme, this session will create a unique space to connect stakeholders, foster new collaborations, and support the nurture of a community of allies dedicated to advancing the intertwined objectives and implementation of the Rio Conventions.