On the occasion of Africa Day 2020 on May 25th, our Project travels back to last February, during the 1st African Youth Biodiversity Forum, when African youth from 19 countries met to learn about the CBD and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Together, they discussed the GBF’s zero draft and issued a joint Declaration stating their full commitment and togetherness for biodiversity.
May 25, 2020 Africa, Intergenerational equity, Youth.
Building on the achievements of the Youth Leadership Dialogue (Paris, November 2019), the African Youth Biodiversity Forum represented a regional opportunity to facilitate youth mobilisation on the ground. It supported the establishment of a youth policy ask for the environment and biodiversity, in particular in connection with the South African Presidency of the African Union (AU), the Sustainable Development Goals and the AU’s 2063 Agenda.
The objective of this Forum (February 5th to 7th), organised in cooperation with the Global Youth Biodiversity Network and UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme, was to support the development of a cross-constituency African youth network engaged in biodiversity. The event was planned as a back-to-back forum to the African Union Summit, which happened on February 9 and 10 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The young participants from 19 countries met to learn about the CBD and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and discuss the zero draft document as released by the co-chairs in January 2020. They engaged in lively debates around their priorities for biodiversity in Africa, presented their aspirations to stakeholders and shared strong feelings of togetherness and mutual support.
A joint declaration was drafted on the Forum final day to promote a powerful message of ambition, capacity and readiness to act at all levels for a transformative Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and its implementation.
Take a look (back) at the English and French versions of the African Youth Biodiversity Forum Declaration.
