Earth Concern

Plan International is one of the globally renowned leading Child Rights Charities. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigel Chapman speaks to Earth Concern Asia Team on various issues related to child rights and climate change on the background of Copenhagen Climate Conference.

How much optimistic is Plan International with the Copenhagen Conference as a leading child rights agency?

As leading children’s rights NGO Plan International has to remain optimistic and determined to secure an agreement at Copenhagen that meets the urgent need for climate justice for children and the pressing need for their voice to be heard.
What has been your major concern from the child rights perspective on climate justice issue?

Children already struggling to adapt to severe, unpredictable weather and environmental disasters are being denied a say in the climate change debate. Young people in developing countries are taking on more responsibility and initiatives to protect their homes and communities but are not being allowed to hold governments to account, Plan has found.
What are the major child rights related issues within climate debates?

With two in five of the world’s population under the age of 18, climate change is set to have a disproportionate impact upon children.

The impact can already be seen in some countries where it operates with shorter and unpredictable rainy seasons, severe typhoons, hurricanes and floods, long-lasting droughts, and repeatedly failed harvests. Extreme weather caused by global warming has the ability to undermine all the gains achieved in the areas of food security, water and sanitation, and the survival of young children.
Most often in big development debates issues of children are neglected, what are your major child focused agenda to bring children within the mainstream of climate debates?

We have seen how a catalogue of disasters this year has damaged homes and livelihoods in many countries where we work, with children being the greatest victims.

Increasingly, young people are now being trained in how to practically deal with the results of such natural disasters- and how to protect their homes and build the resilience of their communities. But not enough is being done, to support these children nor to allow them to have their say in climate change discussions.

Children all over the world are now showing their interest, capacity and valuable role in strengthening resilience to climate risks. But adults are negotiating away the viability of the world they will live in without giving the next generation a place at the table.

As one of the groups so drastically affected, their voice must be heard now – both on how their communities are being affected today and will be increasingly under threat in the future.
What are the major demands?

Plan is now calling for a number of actions at COP15 including:
- Children to be given access to dialogue and formal decision making mechanisms on climate change.
- Governments to invest more in education so the next generation knows more about managing the environment.
- Ensuring that National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and other international, regional and national strategic plans on climate change protect and involve children.
- Emphasizing the significance of children – in terms of impact and ‘agency’ – within the 5th IPCC Assessment Report

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