“We are not a drop in the ocean, but an ocean in a drop.”

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- Sheikh Dr Abdulaziz Al Nuaimi

PrologueAs youth of the world we are not silent!

We are passionate and prepared, hopeful and resilient, and we will not stray from our objective to challenge climate change and water sustainability. Through extensive research, discussion and collaboration, we became more aware of the issues faced by the individual nations that make up our diverse group; and we set forth to explore possibilities that accommodate a variety of countries. More importantly, we understand that our shared voices, experiences, and perspectives - youth voices - can have a valuable and powerful impact on the story of climate change. We approach the coming flood with renewed determination, and faith in our human ability to identify the issues and work towards solutions. Together, we will use these possibilities to come to consensus around applicable methods, and adapt and mitigate to the social, economic, political, and cultural changes that will move the nations of the world forward.

We began this journey as 11,000 youth, from 16 nations, across 6 continents. Together we engaged in 25,000 hours of collective effort and became one world and one voice on the greatest issue facing our generation. The policy opportunities outlined in this paper mark a historic, global youth engage-ment and mobilisation to identify and achieve a set of worldwide priorities addressing climate and water challenges.

Before the flood, we are prepared to empower our bold leadership in the tide for change.

“You just have to start and take part in saving our environment. Today is the time. Not tomorrow, not next year, but today. We have to and we must start.” St. Theresa’s College - Manila, Philippines

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Participant Schools

IntroductionThe students who collaborated on this synthesis of global youth opinion are diverse by any measures. Each of us is an individual, with a different worldview and distinct identity which has been shaped by the countries we live in and the education we have received. Personally, climate change has impacted our lives in various ways; and our respective governments have taken unique actions towards this issue. Despite these differences, we are united in our demand for change.

In the pages that follow, we outline the three means by which we believe change can be instituted on a global basis: policy demands, education, and a call to action. All nations must show the same unity as youth on these points to create tangible action in response to climate change.

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Section I: Moving Forward on Climate & Water IssuesAs representatives of a world-wide alliance of youth, we recognize our role in a movement of global citizenship, and our responsibility as part of a global mobilization. To this end, we propose adding the following goals to our climate change response.

Oceans and Water

Challenges to ocean sustainability and water security remains major global issues. Industries, inefficient policies, and unsustainable farming practices contribute to water insecurity. Now is the time to explore possibilities and develop solutions to save our oceans and water sources. We propose the following possibilities:

• regulate and ban industry contamination of water sources, including runoff from farms, sewage from municipalities, dumping from factories, and mining waste.

• regulate the fishing industry by targeting overfishing and creating protected marine areas.• enact policies to conserve water and restrict overuse by targeting households and agricul-

tural industries.

Every year, oceans are polluted with millions of litres of raw sewage and toxic runoff. Ocean contamination influences human activity. For example, in Ghana, residents refuse to swim on the coasts off their cities. In a world where over one billion people do not have clean water to drink, industry contamination of our water sources must be regulated. This calls for policies to be adopted that address water contamination caused by industry, such as runoff and dumping from farms, factories, mining, coral dredging, sewage disposal, and ship ballast dumping. Regulations are necessary because if left unchecked, unregulated industries will result in the destruction of marine biodiversity and limit the access to clean water globally. We recommend policy to ensure that all manufacturing companies have sustainable alternatives to manage industrial waste and that governments have the legal means to impose penalties on violators.

“We only think of ourselves and let others suffer the consequences of our mistakes” Lincoln Community School - Accra, Ghana

“Every person from every corner of the globe needs to realise that no matter their lifestyle or location, they are not safe from their own impact on the environment.” Pimlico State High School - Townsville, Australia

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The impacts of climate change and overfishing on the fishing industry is of global concern. Internationally, we see marine wildlife disappearing from areas where it was once both plentiful and exhibited an abundance of biological diversity. Surveyed nations such as Ghana, USA, Canada, Peru, Australia and Croatia were concerned by a lack of fish in their re-

gions. Along similar concerns, fishery collapses due to the destruction of habitat by ocean acidification, such as along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, only amplify the urgent need to establish careful protections. We call on our re-spective governments to develop policies that both re-

strict overfishing and create protected marine areas throughout the globe.

Every day individuals all over the world waste gallons of drinkable water. Policies need to be imposed that further reinforce pre-existing legislation. New policies must be introduced on a global scale to address water conservation. For example, in agricultural industries, covering open irrigation channels can save water from evaporation, making it available for use in other farming practices. We call for respective governments to impose limits and restrictions on the use of water in households and agricultural industries.

“This is not only a few degree rise in temperature, it’s volatile weather, dry heat and unpredictable droughts, even within the rainy season.”Lillian Osborne School - Edmonton, Canada

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EnergyEnergy powers our economic and social development. Unfortunately, the types of energy resources predominantly used around the world, such as coal and gasoline, release massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, corrupting our air and acidifying our oceans. We must act to ensure our energy sources and practices are sustainable. We propose the following policy opportunities:

• implement national policies with realistic, attainable priorities focused on moving to-wards renewable power generation.

• increase global access to renewable energy resources and energy efficient technologies.

Complex policy-making and the introduction of market-based incentives by government is necessary to help shape larger conversations around renewable energy. We suggest that governments implement a price on carbon to greatly reduce the global carbon footprint, in line with the Paris agreement’s objective to limit global average temperature rise. Gov-ernments could then harness these funds to incentivize the use of renewable energy resources, such as through subsidies or tax relief for renewable and alternative energies. This would allow more people to access and use sustainable technologies in their everyday lives. Across the globe, nations have expressed interest in accessing alternative technologies, but find cost prohibitive.We recommend partnership development and technology transfer between developed and developing countries to ensure all nations have access to climate change mitigation technologies.

Much of the global population does not have easy access to renewable and energyefficient technologies. Increasing access to these technologies would not only reduce our environmental impact, but also change the way people view energy. This is important because in order for our society to adapt to the changes associated with global warming, we should diversify our energy sector. One way this can be done is by increasing the awareness consumers have of their energy consumption.

This increase in awareness can lead to significant reductions in consumption, as many people are unaware of the true amount of energy they consume. Steps towards this goal have already been tak-en in Australia, Canada, the EU, Ghana, and Taiwan, where energy efficiency labeling is displayed on appliances to help consumers make energy-efficient choices. However, these standards are not universally applied. Expanding these where energy initiatives would allow the general public to change their behavior and have a lasting impact on their environmental footprint.

“Enterprises’ responses to climate change are a part of corporate social responsibility owed to the community in which they have flourished.” Affiliate High School of Chung-Hsing University - Taichung City, Taiwan

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Agriculture Much of the Earth’s land is used for agricultural purposes. Whether for crops or livestock, agricultur-al land is vitally important, and should be used to its full potential to benefit all people. At the same time, no sector faces as many challenges with changes in the water cycle as agriculture. We must develop policies and create an education system to ensure sustainable agricultural development. We propose the following policy opportunities:

• Provide subsidies to farmers for education regarding sustainable farming practices, and use of sustainable techniques and technologies.

• Protect the biodiversity of food products.• Provide subsidies for the use of organic fertilizers and other sustainable farming inputs.

Governments should promote the wellbeing of all their citizens. One way this goal can be encouraged is through social investment leading to the adoption of sustainable systems for agricultural practices, such as providing subsidies to farmers who receive education on the use of sustainable agricultural practices. Agriculture contributes approximately 10% of our plan-

et’s greenhouse gas emissions. We need to adapt our current practices to reduce the impacts of climate change. However, agriculture is a key economic sector in several countries, and is an industry whichprovides life-sustaining food. Educating farmers is crucial to ensure widespread knowledge of sustainable practic-es. Although this may include new technology and science, in many cases, this also includes traditional technologies and seeds. Such practices help restore depleted nitrogen levels in soil through crop rotation, limiting water waste and chemical runoff, preventing soil

compaction, and reducing fossil fuel consumption. These practices are necessary for efficient and sustainable growth of crops. We suggest that farmers receive education on new, minimal impact and/or sustainable traditional farming methods/technologies as they become available, along with the introduction of financial incentives to promote the implementation of sustainable techniques.

Governments and farmers must work together to protect crop biodiversity. We need to reduce crop exportation and encourage the production of indigenous local crops as a strategy to promote biodiversity. Seed banks must also be established and supported to preserve biodiversity and protect crops. Biotechnology and food laws which limit the reach of multinational seed corporations who seek to limit biodiversity in food crops need to be renewed and expanded in scope. We support the use of policy to protect the biodiversity of crops for future generations.

“To achieve a sustainable world we should work together to live in harmony with nature, through using only the resources we need in life and wasting less of the resources we extract and harvest. About a third of the food grown for human consumption goes to waste each year - think about just how many more people we could feed if we reduced this amount!” Willowridge High School - Pretoria, South Africa

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Governments should provide subsidies to farmers who utilize organic fertilizers and limit their use of petroleum fertilizers. Organic fertilizers, containing such things as compostand fish emulsion, have high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash. It is suggested that hese break down naturally and have fewer harmful effects on the soil and groundwater, unlike their petroleum-based counterparts, which contain trace minerals that persist for many years. Petroleum-based products and the processes required to refine them are major contributors to carbon emissions. In contrast, organic fertilizers may produce comparatively lower levels of carbon emissions as the majority of them are composed of compost. However, producing these organic alternatives at an industrial scale has proven difficult. A financial incentive would encourage the production of organic fertilizers at a local level, thus promoting their use and displacing their less sustainable alternatives.

“It is now important that countries realign their focus when it comes to the economy and the environment, as significant change can only occur through the active cooperation, participation and collaboration of every influencing factor.” Pimlico State High School, Townsville - Australia

Indigenous Land Rights and Forest Management

Our Earth is a planet of water. About 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Land compro-mises the remaing portion, and of that, only a third is forested land, an incredibly small fraction to support a planet’s worth of demand. There is no question regarding the urgency which must be placed in restoring and protecting this vital resource. We have a duty to preserve the world’s vast ecological diversity and ensure future generations have the ability to learn, adapt, and prosper. In order to ad-dress this urgent issue, we are calling for:

• Enact regulations designed to protect and involve indigenous peoples’ ideas, beliefs, and rights to climate change decision-making.

• Establish and protect national parks, through creating and enforcing laws designed for these areas.

• Create foundations and programs that maintain forest areas and reclaim abandoned urban sites.

“Climates are changing, minds are not,

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Every effort must be made to include the Indigenous peoples in the development of regulations and systems put forward by governments and NGO’s. As the orginal, and , in many cases, prsent legal authority over the land, countries are bound to develop these ideas further and ensure indigenous peoples have a voice in the battle against climage change.

Further to this, we have an obliga-tion to safeguard Indigenous people’s basic rights as human beings and protect the lands and waters all living things share - rising to the challenges presented by the illegal mining and deforestation on indigenous land already prominent in such coun-tries as Brazil, Canada, and the Philippines. Rec-ognizing the right of indigenous peoples to par-ticipate in policy development will not only give light to a voice that has been actively suppressed, but will also provide a means of extending the monitoring of forested lands. Through this model of respectful collaboration, countries with a more restricted capacity may have a greater ability to address the environmental challenges they face.

“Every state should care and be held responsible for climate change issues.No exceptions; no nation left behind” Affiliate High School of Chung-Hsing University - Taichung City, Taiwan

Though there is a common understanding that climate change is a global issue, the ability to adapt these policies to individual nations is crucial. Creating and maintaining national parks is a means by which we may battle climate change in a manner specific to unique geographical and sovereign systems around the world. In countries such as Peru and Ghana, there exists an overwhelming need for the creation and protection of national lands and waterways. Support in the form of human resources, technology, and public-private partnership must be part of the solutions considered. In this way we may protect what we have not yet lost, and secure the survival of the world’s irreplaceable natural resources.

Prevention and adaptation is just the beginning of our responsibility to our earth - we must also restore what has been destroyed and heal what has been damaged. By establishing conservation foundations along with reforestation and land reclamation programs we can turn back excess urbanization and co-exist in a more sustainable manner. Existing reforestation programs, such as the National Integrated Protected Areas System in the Philippines, provide a solid foundation that could be extended to reclaim abandoned or unused urban territory. Countries such as Australia and Taiwan have similar policies (Conservation Volunteers Australia, National Reserve System, 20 Million Trees Program, etc, etc) on which other countries can model solutions, meeting their unique needs.

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“All the countries of the world have to come together to resolve issues. No nation can choose to be indifferent.” Yadavindra Public School - Patalia, India

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International AidWe, as a global community, have a moral, ethical, and social responsibility to help people from all nations. Over the course of our discussions and within our working groups, a widespread under-standing emerged that developed countries must provide increased aid to developing countries in order to protect all global ecosystems. Progress towards this goal is a reflection of our economic and humanitarian responsibilities as global citizens. As a result, we propose the following policy opportunities for governments to support international aid:

• Honour existing commitments while increasing financial help to developing countries most in need.

• Encourage transfer of technology to aid developing countries.

Developing countries have made substantial progress in the areas of sustainability, although the progress is highly variable. To continue to making meaningful progress towards a more sustainable future, developed countries have an obligation to provide increased financial assistance for sustainability in developing countries. Mechanisms independent of any one government, such as the Green Climate Fund and Least Developed Countries Fund, allow wealthier nations to supply this support to the developing world. As the nations of the world rise to meet their obligations, they also make strides towards reducing inequalities and promoting the wellbeing of all global citizens impacted by climate change.

We must also create and share innovative technologies across nations to collectively reduce the impacts of climate change. Technology influences human existence by improving many aspects of our daily lives. It is also an indicator of advanced economies, which explains why technological advances in developed countries should be shared with developing countries. Transferring climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies to developing countries should also include education regarding technology use, in order to promote sustainability. We believe that access to technology brings young people in contact with the broader world, creating opportunities for cost-effective education and professional training on climate change. For example, the Japanese government’s Official Development Assistance agreement transferred technology to South Korea and China. The acquired technology was used to study greenhouse gas emissions and desalination processes (improving access to clean energy and clean water) at Tokyo University of Technology. As a result, these two countries have advanced their development by means of innovative climate change technology. We recommend that developed countries create and share innovative technologies across borders to collectively reduce the impacts of climate change.

“We believe that climate changes are the biggest problem of our time.” Secondary Medical School - Zadar, Croatia

“Climate change has to be confronted with international collaboration beyond political considerations.” Affiliate High School of Chung-Hsing University - Taichung City, Taiwan

Adaptation and resilience As the climate around us changes and its effects on our lives grow, we now face the responsibility of adapting to new challenges. We must guide our governments towards a unified voice which calls for the creation of a sustainable future including adaptation and resilience. We must also explore what can be done by developing countries to help strengthen resilience and enrich adaptation opportu-nities. We propose that developed nations have a responsibility to:

• Support international resilience to natural disasters.• Encourage the development of sustainable infrastructure.• Provide education about resilience and sustainability.

All countries must develop their resilience to natural disasters as no country is free of risks. For example, in recent years, Bangladesh experienced intense hurricanes, Australia suffered from extreme wildfires, and South Africa experienced catastrophic droughts. These weather conditions are all related to climate change; and their intensity and frequency will only grow stronger as the global average temperature climbs. But we can endure them, if we prepare. Countries may build resilience capacity by adopting emergency disaster plans. We believe that every country must be able to respond quickly and effectively to natural disasters. To fund emergency preparedness initiatives, we believe that developed countries must also adopt a tax policy, such as a carbon tax. The money raised from taxes could then be allocated to a natural disaster fund. Such a fund could allow countries to respond to natural disasters anywhere in the world, not just within their own borders. The help provided may also prevent future climate change refugees and conflicts between nations.

Sustainable infrastructure will allow nations to develop long-term resilience. We must prepare for more extreme natural disasters in the near future. We recommend that allcountries and municipalities review infrastructure development and introduce new building codes to ensure sustainable, adaptive, and eco-friendly buildings. For example, updating building codes to promote “net-zero” construction, promoting financing options for individual use of solar power systems, or “smart grid”technologies to allow families to share the renewable energy they produce are all means of intervening on a local, urban-development level. Community-scale collection of rainwater for cleaning and other uses also reduces the demand of water from infrastructure. We believe that the building of infrastructure must be in harmony with the environment. This can be done by using new technologies, improving our management of small spaces, and building resilient, sustainable structures and systems.

The challenge of adaptation lies in our ability to educate and engage the public in climate change understanding and adaption. This can be done by exploring climate change challenges and solutions with the goal of improving student understanding of the ecological footprint of their actions. An informed generation of students, with an understanding of the scale of climate change and the impact of their actions, can make wise decisions for their future in a climate-changed world.

“Inconvenience is a small price to pay in the course of Adaptation and Resilience.” Affiliate High School of Chung-Hsing University - Taichung City, Taiwan

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Section II: Awareness and Education Education is an important way to mitigate the effects of climate change by fostering an informed community. As youth, we believe in the importance of education, but we emphasize that

education extends well beyond the classroom. Self-awareness, reflection, and connecting to others are essential techniques to educate ourselves and become more aware. Technology can facilitate all of these techniques - learning from and sharing with others through social media allows us to engage with our global community. Youth

participation in social media campaigns enables us to better understand climate change impact, mitigation, and adaptation strategies at a personal level, and educates us about effective courses of action. We believe that further education and awareness are needed to address the issues of climate change and obstacles related to water, agriculture, and consumption.

Water is essential to all life, and yet much of this vital resource is wasted due to lack of awareness, profit motives and lack of efficient systems. We believe that through education, we can teach youth about water shortages, droughts, and water scarcity issues. In becoming knowledgeable on water conservation, we change our behaviour; When we save water, we save ourselves.

Agriculture is the source of economic growth in many countries around the globe. We strongly believe that by using education to spread sustainable agricultural techniques and technologies, we can better protect our water and our land. Farmers should engage in sustainable growing techniques such as using crop rotation, avoiding excessive tillage, managing pests, and preventing soil compaction. These techniques can be adopted today across the globe, and can result in a vast reduction in emissions - and a stronger, more resilient, agricultural ecosystem.

We need to change our lifestyles and our behaviors, particularly in how we consume products. Part of being a consumer in the 21st century is the responsibility of being conscious of what you take in, the amount of it, and the impacts your consumption has on the environment and people around the world. Individuals should be aware of their ecolog-ical impact, including their carbon footprint

and water burden. Just as COP-participating states in a post-Paris world must monitor their emis-sions and report their findings regularly, their people can participate with frequent re-evaluation of their personal ecological footprint. To make such reporting a normal part of everyday life, it should be introduced during early education, because young people become future leaders. As individu-als, we must engage with the global community to reduce our collective ecological footprint and collaboratively change the way we view our personal responsibilities for climate change.

“We can’t expect people to make a change if those people don’t know why they should. As a plan for the future, we need to work on educating people how big a problem climate change is and that it is happening fast.”Lillian Osborne High School - Edmonton, Canada

“The main strategy we could use to combat climate change … [is] to educate because our youth is our future, and people still haven’t realized the seriousness of this issue” Lincoln Community School - Accra, Ghana

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Section III: A Global Call to Action We believe that everyone must take action to make a global impact on climate change. We cannot sit back and wait for our governments to move forward; we are all responsible and we must all take action together. It is imperative to work towards sustaining harmony between the needs of development and today’s climate challenges. We cannot keep going in our current direction - it is time for us to change. We believe more action should be taken at the individual, community, national, and global level in order for significant changes to take place.

In Communities and Schools: We demand climate change education in schools to foster environmental literacy. Educational programs need to be adapted to address local environmental concerns. Students can encourage their teachers and principals to turn off lights, heating and cooling devices and unplug other electronic devices. We can also take action to enforce the use of paperless teaching and to reduce meat consumption in our school cafeterias. Personally, we have each taken a pledge to plant and care for a tree as part of a reforestation program, and we challenge you to do the same.

We as a community must take action to create sustainable and more energy efficient transportation around the world. We demand that municipalities increase the availability of public transport, such as busses, trains, bicycles and subways. These transportation options need to be effective, reliable, and sustainable to meet all commuting needs. This can be expanded by encouraging the public to carpool or rideshare.

National and International

We call on governments to take strong and decisive action on climate change. Governments must collaborate more with indigenous and religious leaders to have their views and ideas expressed and acted on. Newly developed technologies and programs designed to address climate change must be shared with all developing countries to lower the likeliness of recurring disasters. We stress the need to encourage the donation of food, clothes, and personal items, as well as creating more food and clothing banks in respect to cli-mate change refugees. We stress the need to address the growing global crisis of climate refugees through honouring and increasing commitments to international aid and local programs provid-ing basic human needs. Climate change related health service and community disaster prepared-ness plans must be put in place to help communities prepare and recover from climate disasters.

As young global citizens, we call on all governments to take strong and decisive climate action to-wards the transition away from fossil fuels. From legislating energy efficient light bulgs to modify-ing building codes, from providing household incentives on energy bills to implementing a carbon tax, all levels of government need to work with their youth and interested parties to create and drive change.

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“we now must be able to put into action the knowledge that we have gained to consciously live in our planet” St. Theresa’s College - Manila, Philippines

We have a responsibility, as humankind, to engage in the prevention of further damage of the effects of climate change and address the global water challenges; to act upon the consequences of our actions; and to prepare the world for what is to come. We cannot afford to remain complacent in our direction. We vow to create a future based on our collaborative choices today. With hope and determination, we extend our outcomes for your review. In this way, we may collaboratively create an enriched planet.