High-Level Week
10:30 - 12:00
| Event title | Sustainalympics by Japanese youth ~ Discussing youth participation ~ |
|---|---|
| Contents | Sustainable + Olympics/Paralympics = Sustainalympics and this is a word we created to show our wish to make the Tokyo 2020 Games sustainable. Climate Youth Japan (CYJ) is a youth NGO for youth in Japan with high interest in climate change. Our vision is to realize the balanced and sustainable society by leading climate change issues to resolution. Activities include advocacy and climate leader training. We have been working to achieve Sustainalympics since last year. To find out how we can contribute to Sustainalympics, we discussed with the low carbon committee of the Games, NGOs working towards the same cause, and youth working on Olympics/Paralympics but in non-environmental fields. In conclusion, we decided that “Sustainalympics” will aim for a legacy of youth actions through Tokyo 2020. This event is held so that participants (anyone is welcome) can be inspired from youth action through Sustainalympics, realise the potential of youth, and discuss about the democracy of international negotiations from the youth participation point of view. 【Program】 Part 2: Discussion - Youth participation at COP |
| Keywords | Japan, Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), Youth participation, youth actions, Sustainalympics, Youth Delegate Program, discussion |
| Speakers Name and Title |
|
| Organiser / Co-organiser |
|
Final Programme
Presentation (25 min) ：
Why youth take action / Event overview (5min)
・Yuhei Tsukamoto , Climate Youth Japan, Japan
CYJ’s introduction / Olympics and the environment/ Sustainalympics and its actions* (20 min)
*Actions displayed:
- Youth organisation Origami’s parasports events and barrier-free study around the Tokyo Olympics venue
- NPO Hope to Hope’s project to build a renewable energy plant using youth investment and branding its electricity as “Youth-produced electricity” for the wider public
- Sustainable for Tama’s educational workshop on the problem of forestry decline using woods from Tama which is planned to be used at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
・Kotoe Kuroda, Climate Youth Japan, Japan
Workshop (60 min) ：
- All participants / Facilitators from Climate Youth Japan, Japan : Nagisa Yoshioka, Misaki Takahashi, Emina Kiyoma, Erina Imai
- Ice break – Grouping / What Olympics Game will you watch? (10 min)
- Sharing your current project (10 min)
- Discussing how we can involve youth and other generations for Sustainalympics. (30 min)
* Sustainalympics: Making a youth legacy where more youth take actions for a sustainable future - Reflection time in groups (10 min)
Dancing and singing PPAP Ver. Sustainalympics (5 min)
- All participants and CYJ members
Session Summary
＜Presentation＞
After the importance of youth taking climate action as the ones who will be affected by climate change the most was noted, the relationship between Olympics and the environment was explained with case studies of past Olympic Games leading to a large carbon footprint and deforestation and a lecture on how one of the three pillars of Olympism is the environment. Next, the way in which the target and objective of the Sustainalympics project shifted over time was shared, followed by explanations on 3 Sustainalympics youth projects.
＜Workshop＞
Overview of the discussion outcomes:
- Group Imai
If social systems are made simpler, it will be easier to involve people in making sustainable society. For example, COP23 provides water bottles to participants and promotes drinking tap water and China carries out a drink bottle deposit system with Alipay. Regarding youth capacity building, youth should actively participate in international conferences, as well as holding youth led regional conferences. Moreover, we youth should gain skills and knowledge through internships in government institutions or business. - Group Kiyoma
The case from China that it is difficult to get senior citizens involved in climate action as many of them do not believe in climate change led the group to believe that education is the most important point in involving all generations in Sustainalympics. Also, a success story where youth used IT to get more people to feel closer to climate change was shared. - Group Takahashi
Participants from the USA stated that it is logical that youth should think of the future, and was surprised to hear that in Japan, most climate change related events are attended by older people. This group was inspired by the youth produced electricity project. Also, suggestions were made to make mascot characters and get children to be involved in Sustainalympics too. - Group Yoshioka
This group suggested to make climate action fun for example by having rental cycles at the Olympics. To reach more people on SNS, we should collaborate with people with big influence like instagramers and upload funny pictures.
＜PPAP Ver. Sustainalympics＞
We had a fun time singing and dancing the Sustainalympic version of “PPAP”.
Key Messages
Many feedbacks supporting the Sustainalympics to get more youth to take action for a sustainable future was received so CYJ hopes to continue expanding this project. The following points are suggestions for further climate action:
- Make climate change FUN e.g. Use mascot characters, funny photos, dance PPAP
- To increase the climate actors population, EDUCATE
- Use technology, especially SNS amongst youth
- Keep sharing experiences (both failures and success) to gain more ideas for action
Name and organisation of the person(s) who prepared the summary
Climate Youth Japan, Kotoe Kuroda
Photos
