The Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) is hosting a series of activities to increase the youth’s capacity to engage in and encourage access to opportunities in climate change as part of the City’s initiative to actively involve young people in climate action. On the first day of the series, which was held online on Wednesday, 22 March, Monde Ngwane, the event organiser, and champion, discussed climate finance and outlined why it was important for Joburg youth to have access to climate finance to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

“It is essential to build capacity and create enabling environments that support youth-led climate initiatives, particularly those from marginalised communities.

It is imperative to ensure that climate finance is transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs of local communities and youth-led organisations,” Ngwane said.

She added that climate finance can play a significant role in empowering Joburg youth to contribute to climate action and sustainable development.

Lebo Molefe the EISD Director of Air Quality & Climate Change said knowing about the financial operations and opportunities that exist in the climate change space will equip young people to navigate it for their own development.

“Having this information will help young people grow and ultimately contribute to climate change discourse,” Molefe said.

The second day of the event focused on climate and gender justice and was led by Ipas Senior Capacity Building Advisor, Dr Makgoale Magwentshu.

Dr Magwentshu emphasised the relationship between gender and climate change and the diverse ways it affects men, women, and Indigenous people.

“Climate change plays a role in gender and sexuality which is a topical subject amongst the youth of today. Climate change has a direct impact on sexual and reproductive health services, and has direct impact on reproductive justice as well,” she said.

Long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns are referred to as climate change. These changes might be caused by variations in the solar cycle and be natural.

But since the 1800s, human activities — primarily the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas — have been the primary cause of climate change.

The overarching message of the second day of the four-day series was to inform the youth about how the climate catastrophe and gender inequality are intertwined and must both be addressed.

“Women and girls are well suited to contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resiliency efforts and need to be key players in solving this crisis.

​Yet, many women and girls continue to be side-lined from being part of the solution,” said Dr Magwentshu.

The way forward, she said, would be to work together on advocacy for women-led climate, gender, and reproductive justice, including the intersections of LGBTQIA+, integrate issues in vulnerability assessments and gender analysis to inform National Adaptation Plans (NAP), include gender, women’s health actors, including women led CSOs as stakeholders in NAP processes, and build resilient health systems so that health systems are not negatively impacted during times of crisis.

Ngwane, who is also an EISD intern in the Air Quality and Climate Change Unit, said the City had made aggressive climate pledges and had approved a Climate Action Plan (CAP) in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“The role of the youth in driving climate commitments is an important one and the City supports youth involvement in the climate action discourse.”

The third and fourth day of the event will be held at the Johannesburg Zoo on Friday, 24 and Saturday, 25 March, where the Earth Hour initiative will be commemorated while young people participate in highly interactive workshops and other activities outside of the seminar.

Earth Hour is a global campaign organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The initiative is commemorated annually across the world on the last Saturday of March. The Earth Hour theme for 2023 is ‘Investing in our Planet’.

“The City decided to conduct a four-day youth capacity building workshop instead of the traditional Earth Hour commemoration because we felt that it would be more concrete and participants would find it more rewarding,” said Ngwane.

Written by Sascha-Lee Joseph

13/03/2023