An era of consumerism, an era of unsustainable practices, an era of lack of responsibility towards planet Earth. Yes, welcome to the anthropocene era that finds its luxury and happiness by slowly poisoning lives around. These words might sound cruel, but it is evident that we, the sixth sensed species are spreading like an incurable infection on the planet, disturbing the delicate balance of the earth’s climate.
Honourable Dignitaries, Delegates of the International Symposium and friends from the media, Namasthe, Good Afternoon. I am Haripriya Madhavan from India. Today I feel privileged to represent my young friends from 8 countries belonging to the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, to share the experiences we had during the 6 days of the forum on Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Action.
Understanding GIS and remote sensing, learning about landscape changes in HKH region, snow-cover mapping, glacier inventories and disaster risk management, performing numerous hands-on activities, listening to power-packed guest lectures by experts from ICIMOD and the supporting organizations – That was a fraction of what the youth forum equipped all of us with, in such a short period of time. Yet, it is so fascinating to realize the impact this learning could have on our community when we go back home and advocate about consequences of climate change on the HKH region. We are indeed thankful to ICIMOD because this forum has helped us to feel more attached to mountain ecosystems, especially the Himalayas, our pride and heritage that we must conserve for our future generations. We, the participants now have the responsibility to tackle our area-specific impacts of climate change by connecting with potential solution makers to fuel immediate mitigation action and also build capacities of communities to adapt. The youth forum has made us recognize the power of communication and effective sharing as key necessities for securing our future.
We look forward to play a vital role in building decision support systems with the help of Earth Observation tools and resources. Thus, with the wisdom and will of the experienced and the energy and ideas that we have, we the youth are committed to transform our world into a better place for ourselves and the young of the future.
If you have assumed that the participants of the youth forum are a group of only environmental science graduates, you are probably wrong because we also have a good representation from youth belonging to the social sciences and media background. Being a media student myself, it is my duty to voice the concerns of this section as well. Media is a platform with immense potential to reach the people at their doorsteps and desktops. So it is essential that the issues surrounding climate change are given prominent space in newspapers, television, radio and online news portals. Hence, we urge the media community to bridge your knowledge gaps in the field of climate change in order to ensure responsible coverage backed with the necessary follow-up and not just momentary reporting. Moreover, a participatory approach to involve the people, especially vulnerable communities, in the process of reporting, popularly known as citizen journalism, could enable media to act as catalysts of change in the society.
At the outset, we also have a message for the women community at this international forum. We are considered as creators of the human race. Hence it is our duty to take up the mission of conservation as a challenge to prove our willpower and determination in protecting our Earth. What we require is women activism to combat climate change.
We might represent different professions, different genders, different communities, different ideologies, but we are all under one sky, as humans, humans with love for each other. We are not deterred by differences. We, the youth are concerned about a secure future not just for ourselves, but for the entire human kind. We do not want our children to be born as environmental refugees. We do not want to see suffering and pain in the eyes of our kith and kin whose lives are dependent on the Himalayan ecosystem. The fact that the countries from the HKH region are extremely dependent on climate sensitive sectors makes us the most likely victims of failing crops, potential famine, floods and disease. We do not want to wait for major disasters to happen, which is why we look up to our leaders and policy makers of our respective countries for immediate affirmative action.
The message from the youth forum is going to be a beginning in itself – for advocacy based on good science, for building regional and international cooperation, for responsible action, and we hope, for good governance as well. I would like to share with you an inspirational quote by one of my friends, “What will decide the destiny of our future is not the power of uranium or plutonium, but the power of this millennium’s youthanium”.
This platform will enable the participants of the different events during the Symposium to interact virtually, stay updated on the ongoing sessions and provide a room for debate and creative exchanges.
Showing posts with label Youth Forum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youth Forum. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Speech by Kamran Hussain of the Youth Forum during the Valedictory Session Oct 6
My name is Kamran Hussain and I am representing the Youth Forum on Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Actions. The Youth Forum represents the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan regions from China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Afghanistan. We are among the hundreds of millions of young people who are frightened about their future because we know that we will become in the age group of 62 to 68 in the year 2050. We read science and we understand that we must now release ourselves from business as usual and take a momentous leap forward to grasp our sustainable future with both hands. Because we all know that HKH region needs much more attention from local to global levels as hotspot of climate change and calls for urgent action. Climate Change, no doubt, is one of the most critical global concerns of this generation where the youth of the region will face enormous challenges in future and our future depends on your decisions which you are going to take today. Therefore, it is important to actively engage us in the areas of preparedness, risk reduction, adaptation and mitigation because we, the youth, believe that we have innovative ideas and abundant energy to take the local actions.
We would like to thank specially ICIMOD and also NASA, USAID and SERVIR-Himalaya for recognizing the role of youth as agents for change and effective communicators because raising awareness among youth and engaging them in action on ground is an important factor for addressing the climate change issues in HKH.
Earth Observation is proving to be vital tool to improve our understanding the climate change phenomenon by providing information on the changes on various attributes which are indicators to climate change and will also help us to use the scientific approaches in advocacy.
The six day youth forum exposed us to various earth observation tools like satellite images, GIS/RS and Google earth to analyze the impacts of climate change on land, water, air and glaciers and identifying the climate change issues in our communities. The forum enhanced our capacities to use the climate, EO data and products more effectively to integrate climate risk management into national policies for sustainable development.
To the delegates of this symposium: you have only few months to improve your position and we implore you to work harder. We urge you too to take ambitious nationality appropriate mitigation strategies to take action now. We can’t solve climate change without you. We would like to ask you, all here, a very important question which we think you will all take a moment to consider – How old will you be in the year 2050? I said that we will be in the age group of 62 to 68 hoping to retire after 4 decades of working for capacity building of youth on earth observation, awareness campaigns within the communities on climate change issues, bridging the data gaps between generations and institutions and decarbonising our society.
As a youth, we commit to working with all of you now and over forty years to achieve this transformation. Inter-generational equity is crucial but we need more than that because we are the people who will be implementing these targets.
To conclude : we challenge each one of you to come and meet us here and back home in your country and guarantee that you are confident that we still have a liveable planet in the year 2050? We need this guarantee because in 2050 we will still be here in this planet earth.
We would like to thank specially ICIMOD and also NASA, USAID and SERVIR-Himalaya for recognizing the role of youth as agents for change and effective communicators because raising awareness among youth and engaging them in action on ground is an important factor for addressing the climate change issues in HKH.
Earth Observation is proving to be vital tool to improve our understanding the climate change phenomenon by providing information on the changes on various attributes which are indicators to climate change and will also help us to use the scientific approaches in advocacy.
The six day youth forum exposed us to various earth observation tools like satellite images, GIS/RS and Google earth to analyze the impacts of climate change on land, water, air and glaciers and identifying the climate change issues in our communities. The forum enhanced our capacities to use the climate, EO data and products more effectively to integrate climate risk management into national policies for sustainable development.
To the delegates of this symposium: you have only few months to improve your position and we implore you to work harder. We urge you too to take ambitious nationality appropriate mitigation strategies to take action now. We can’t solve climate change without you. We would like to ask you, all here, a very important question which we think you will all take a moment to consider – How old will you be in the year 2050? I said that we will be in the age group of 62 to 68 hoping to retire after 4 decades of working for capacity building of youth on earth observation, awareness campaigns within the communities on climate change issues, bridging the data gaps between generations and institutions and decarbonising our society.
As a youth, we commit to working with all of you now and over forty years to achieve this transformation. Inter-generational equity is crucial but we need more than that because we are the people who will be implementing these targets.
To conclude : we challenge each one of you to come and meet us here and back home in your country and guarantee that you are confident that we still have a liveable planet in the year 2050? We need this guarantee because in 2050 we will still be here in this planet earth.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
SERVIR-Himalaya launched
The chief of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Charles F. Bolden, along with Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Michael Yates, on Tuesday launched the SERVIR-Himalaya system in Nepal.
Addressing a youth symposium that is being organised by ICIMOD between October 1 and 6, the NASA chief said there is a need for technological advancement to help in the risk management, caused due to climate change and natural disasters in the region. “There is also a need to develop an economic growth strategy to cope with the impacts of climate change in the region,” he said. More details....
Addressing a youth symposium that is being organised by ICIMOD between October 1 and 6, the NASA chief said there is a need for technological advancement to help in the risk management, caused due to climate change and natural disasters in the region. “There is also a need to develop an economic growth strategy to cope with the impacts of climate change in the region,” he said. More details....
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Youth have a say
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Oct 3: Some 40 participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan have gathered to discuss climate change and call for action at "Empowering Youth with Earth Observation for Climate Actions" hosted by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Republica spoke with some of the participants on their perception of climate change in their region and what the youth should do to combat climate change. More Details...
KATHMANDU, Oct 3: Some 40 participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan have gathered to discuss climate change and call for action at "Empowering Youth with Earth Observation for Climate Actions" hosted by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Republica spoke with some of the participants on their perception of climate change in their region and what the youth should do to combat climate change. More Details...
MY SECOND DAY AT THE YOUTH FORUM
Haripriya Madhavan, India
October 2, 2010. This was the day when I realised that I could have been a better geography student in my class 8.
The second day was packed with a lot of technical presentations providing data and statistics on a variety of topics like satellite and sensor types, remote sensing applications, impacts of climate change on the Himalayan glaciers, glacial lake study and GLOF risk assessment. We also learnt technical terms like swath, geostationary orbits, bandwidth combinations, resolution, etc.
The hands-on exercise was pretty exciting to explore through. As we sat in groups of three sharing a computer, we tried working on MODIS snow tool for removing clouds from available images to distinguish snow cover on the peaks. In another exercise we had to try out different bandwidth combinations to identify the best picture that would clearly let us differentiate vegetation, urban settlements and water bodies in the satellite image that was given to us. When I told my friends about this over facebook, they were quite surprised that I was learning about remote sensing tools. (I guess they were jealous, too!) All these concepts are really new to me, but they are very interesting to learn.
One of the motives of the forum, as Tek Jung Mahat puts it, is to encourage climate advocacy based on good science and to make information reliable. In every session, the necessity to share information was reiterated by the speakers. I too think that is the best thing to do because that is when there will be collective action. Without the right interventions at the right time to combat climate change, we can definitely not expect a bright future for us as well as our generations to come. So, now is the time to remember the adage that we have not inherited this planet from our ancestors, but borrowed it from our future generations.
October 2, 2010. This was the day when I realised that I could have been a better geography student in my class 8.
The second day was packed with a lot of technical presentations providing data and statistics on a variety of topics like satellite and sensor types, remote sensing applications, impacts of climate change on the Himalayan glaciers, glacial lake study and GLOF risk assessment. We also learnt technical terms like swath, geostationary orbits, bandwidth combinations, resolution, etc.
The hands-on exercise was pretty exciting to explore through. As we sat in groups of three sharing a computer, we tried working on MODIS snow tool for removing clouds from available images to distinguish snow cover on the peaks. In another exercise we had to try out different bandwidth combinations to identify the best picture that would clearly let us differentiate vegetation, urban settlements and water bodies in the satellite image that was given to us. When I told my friends about this over facebook, they were quite surprised that I was learning about remote sensing tools. (I guess they were jealous, too!) All these concepts are really new to me, but they are very interesting to learn.
One of the motives of the forum, as Tek Jung Mahat puts it, is to encourage climate advocacy based on good science and to make information reliable. In every session, the necessity to share information was reiterated by the speakers. I too think that is the best thing to do because that is when there will be collective action. Without the right interventions at the right time to combat climate change, we can definitely not expect a bright future for us as well as our generations to come. So, now is the time to remember the adage that we have not inherited this planet from our ancestors, but borrowed it from our future generations.
Youths issue call to fight climate change | Nation | :: The Kathmandu Post ::
Youths issue call to fight climate change Nation :: The Kathmandu Post :: PRAGATI SHAHI
KATHMANDU, OCT 02 -
Some 39 youths representing different countries in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region are taking part in a six-day symposium on ‘Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Actions’ organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in support with National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The youths believe that without concerted effort and cooperation among countries in the region, the vulnerabilities posed due to climate change are unavoidable. Representing Nepal, Krity Shrestha said her country being mountainous is threatened by climate change due to glacier melting. More details...
KATHMANDU, OCT 02 -
Some 39 youths representing different countries in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region are taking part in a six-day symposium on ‘Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Actions’ organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in support with National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The youths believe that without concerted effort and cooperation among countries in the region, the vulnerabilities posed due to climate change are unavoidable. Representing Nepal, Krity Shrestha said her country being mountainous is threatened by climate change due to glacier melting. More details...
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Experts stress earth study techniques
Earth observation techniques—namely Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) Tools—are needed to improve scientific knowledge and understand climate change, experts said.
Speaking a six-day international symposium on ‘Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Action’ on Friday, Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Andreas Schild said though it is evident mountain glaciers are melting at an alarming rate there are shortfalls in the data and a detailed analysis is needed to understand climate change. The lack of scientific data and analysis is hindering the prediction of future scenarios related to melting of mountain glaciers, he said. “The Earth observation technology plays a vital role in add-ressing the gaps in the scientific data and research.”
Speaking a six-day international symposium on ‘Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Action’ on Friday, Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Andreas Schild said though it is evident mountain glaciers are melting at an alarming rate there are shortfalls in the data and a detailed analysis is needed to understand climate change. The lack of scientific data and analysis is hindering the prediction of future scenarios related to melting of mountain glaciers, he said. “The Earth observation technology plays a vital role in add-ressing the gaps in the scientific data and research.”
My Republica: Youth Forum in the News
‘Youth forum class for action on climate change'
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Been there, Doing that !
(Haripriya Madhavan from India shares her thoughts on the first day of the youth forum – “Empowering youth with earth observation information for climate action”)
“We are already getting late”, signals Phuntsok as we rushed to put our luggage to be shifted to Hotel Clarion and jumped into the bus which was to take us to ICIMOD. It was the first day of the Youth Forum and I was feeling extremely energized to meet more participants from Nepal and other countries. The ICIMOD bus waded through the streets and alleys to reach a calm and serene campus – the ICIMOD premises. It was exciting to see many cute little battery cars parked inside along with other vehicles. Equally appealing were the neatly maintained gardens and the picturesque office building. We walked to the conference hall, registered and got our participant kits (which was quite heavy, thanks to the organizers for providing us with a lot of useful resource materials and books related to the forum’s theme). I knew the next 6 days’ schedule is going to be really hectic, but it was actually a relief to know from Bidya that we do have some sight-seeing planned us. Following the registrations, the forum was inaugurated officially. I was particularly impressed about something that Mr.Anil Chitrakaar mentioned in his speech during the inaugural session- “The fact that we have only one planet makes us poor. That is real poverty” and also “A small something is better than big nothings”. All the speakers reiterated the need for promoting rapid responses to crucial issues through information gathering.
Later we proceeded for the forum’s first day schedule after the group photo session. We watched two videos during the session conducted by Tek, and I was emotionally moved by the plight of the Assamese people who suffer the impacts of flooding in Brahmaputra River. It was disturbing to see how the Mishing community in Assam have been forced to live out of their cultural norms because of the frequent natural disasters happening in their region. Then, all of us shared our perceptions on impacts of climate change and what we as youth could do for our communities using the learning from the forum. Coming from a city background, I could use these technological earth observation tools to promote better city planning methods for a sustainable living as well as learn about mountainous ecosystems which are the sources for a city’s resources. Some impressions were about disseminating the outcomes of the forum once we return to our places. There were also some inspiring words describing the power of youth.
The afternoon session introduced to us about understanding the world better using maps, usage of earth observation as a spatial visualization and about GIS functions. We also had the chance to try software like GIS viewer and explore more web source tools like arcGIS and Google Outreach application. We then had to call it a day and depart to our hotel. On the whole, my first day at the youth forum was refreshing, with a chance to talk to young people from various backgrounds, but passionate about the same issue – ‘creating a better environment and livelihoods for communities’. I look forward to blog more of my experiences through this week. Keep watching this space.
“We are already getting late”, signals Phuntsok as we rushed to put our luggage to be shifted to Hotel Clarion and jumped into the bus which was to take us to ICIMOD. It was the first day of the Youth Forum and I was feeling extremely energized to meet more participants from Nepal and other countries. The ICIMOD bus waded through the streets and alleys to reach a calm and serene campus – the ICIMOD premises. It was exciting to see many cute little battery cars parked inside along with other vehicles. Equally appealing were the neatly maintained gardens and the picturesque office building. We walked to the conference hall, registered and got our participant kits (which was quite heavy, thanks to the organizers for providing us with a lot of useful resource materials and books related to the forum’s theme). I knew the next 6 days’ schedule is going to be really hectic, but it was actually a relief to know from Bidya that we do have some sight-seeing planned us. Following the registrations, the forum was inaugurated officially. I was particularly impressed about something that Mr.Anil Chitrakaar mentioned in his speech during the inaugural session- “The fact that we have only one planet makes us poor. That is real poverty” and also “A small something is better than big nothings”. All the speakers reiterated the need for promoting rapid responses to crucial issues through information gathering.
Later we proceeded for the forum’s first day schedule after the group photo session. We watched two videos during the session conducted by Tek, and I was emotionally moved by the plight of the Assamese people who suffer the impacts of flooding in Brahmaputra River. It was disturbing to see how the Mishing community in Assam have been forced to live out of their cultural norms because of the frequent natural disasters happening in their region. Then, all of us shared our perceptions on impacts of climate change and what we as youth could do for our communities using the learning from the forum. Coming from a city background, I could use these technological earth observation tools to promote better city planning methods for a sustainable living as well as learn about mountainous ecosystems which are the sources for a city’s resources. Some impressions were about disseminating the outcomes of the forum once we return to our places. There were also some inspiring words describing the power of youth.
The afternoon session introduced to us about understanding the world better using maps, usage of earth observation as a spatial visualization and about GIS functions. We also had the chance to try software like GIS viewer and explore more web source tools like arcGIS and Google Outreach application. We then had to call it a day and depart to our hotel. On the whole, my first day at the youth forum was refreshing, with a chance to talk to young people from various backgrounds, but passionate about the same issue – ‘creating a better environment and livelihoods for communities’. I look forward to blog more of my experiences through this week. Keep watching this space.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Youth meet on earth observation, Himalayan climate change
Kathmandu, October 1 - A six-day youth forum, ‘Empowering Youth with Earth Observation Information for Climate Actions’ started from Friday where 40 youths from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
The forum aims to familiarise the participants with the potential benefits of earth observation derived information, and impart GIS/RS knowledge and skills for using earth observation to address pressing issues related to climate change.More details...
The forum aims to familiarise the participants with the potential benefits of earth observation derived information, and impart GIS/RS knowledge and skills for using earth observation to address pressing issues related to climate change.More details...
Perspectives: The problems to Climate Change Action are at the higher level
Youth Cammp participants who had been attendees to the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen expressed their frustration: “The issues are hijacked by politics. That’s why already now everyone is talking about COP17 instead of the upcoming Climate Change conference in Mexico. But really we cannot put the blame on the highest level politicians. There are other priorities which determine their behavior at these meetings. Instead, actions by us at the grassroots level actual have a visible impact.”
“The good thing that was achieved through the global Climate Change Debate and the IPCC the environment was put on the policy agenda. Four years ago no Nepali Prime Minister would have been interested to talk about climate change. Today he wouldn’t miss any opportunity and happily goes to Mount Everest basecamp just to make a point. The actual changes really have to take place at the grassroot levels.”
“The good thing that was achieved through the global Climate Change Debate and the IPCC the environment was put on the policy agenda. Four years ago no Nepali Prime Minister would have been interested to talk about climate change. Today he wouldn’t miss any opportunity and happily goes to Mount Everest basecamp just to make a point. The actual changes really have to take place at the grassroot levels.”
Youth Forum from 1-6 October at ICIMOD
The first Youth Forum on Earth Observation will kick off today with a week-long events surrounding the Symposium “Benefiting from Earth Observation” at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The forum is organized by ICIMOD together with the Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA), and the GIS Society of Nepal. The forum was organized in the framework of the SERVIR-Himalaya Youth Initiative, and was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The event brings together youth from the region and all the ICIMOD member countries with an aim to familiarize them with the potential benefits of earth observation for addressing climate change related issues. At the same time they are provided with a platform for sharing and learning of experiences in the extended Himalayan region. The forty attendants are true “climate champions” as they were selected from 750 applications based on individual essays, their fields of studies and their social involvement, to provide a representative cross-sectional sample of voices from across the region.
The Youth Forum will be inaugurated by dignitaries, like ICIMOD’s Director General Andreas Schild, Ashoka Fellow Anil Chitrakar, and Jason Kessler from NASA. Basanta Shrestha, coordinator of the event and the Division Head of MENRIS, ICIMOD, is looking forward to the event. “While the usage of Earth Observation is beneficial in multiple contexts, youths are “agents of change” and communicators in their communities, as well as in regional and international arenas.”
Over the upcoming week the participants will get exposed to the general themes of 1) Climate Change and the Himalayas and 2) Understanding Earth Observation. A considerable part of the Forum will be hands-on exercises familiarizing the participants with basic Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS/GIS) skills, case studies related to use of EO in climate actions, and internet related resources such as GoogleEarth. The sessions will focus on issues such as snow and land cover change, disaster management and air quality. The last two days of the Forum are dedicated to project work preparing the youths to take local action in the community.
The Youth Forum has been designed to provide a regional platform to share and learn from each other. ICIMOD is already supporting youth network group, namely the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) which focuses on bringing together different civil society stakeholders at a national and international level on climate change issues. It is expected that the youth groups represented at the Forum will help to further disseminate the information about earth observation and the SERVIR-Himalaya initiative in their communities, the media and the public.
Throughout the Forum this blog will keep you updated on the proceedings, opinions and ideas presented. Please also check out our twitter page @earthsymposium for live commenting and coverage.
The event brings together youth from the region and all the ICIMOD member countries with an aim to familiarize them with the potential benefits of earth observation for addressing climate change related issues. At the same time they are provided with a platform for sharing and learning of experiences in the extended Himalayan region. The forty attendants are true “climate champions” as they were selected from 750 applications based on individual essays, their fields of studies and their social involvement, to provide a representative cross-sectional sample of voices from across the region.
The Youth Forum will be inaugurated by dignitaries, like ICIMOD’s Director General Andreas Schild, Ashoka Fellow Anil Chitrakar, and Jason Kessler from NASA. Basanta Shrestha, coordinator of the event and the Division Head of MENRIS, ICIMOD, is looking forward to the event. “While the usage of Earth Observation is beneficial in multiple contexts, youths are “agents of change” and communicators in their communities, as well as in regional and international arenas.”
Over the upcoming week the participants will get exposed to the general themes of 1) Climate Change and the Himalayas and 2) Understanding Earth Observation. A considerable part of the Forum will be hands-on exercises familiarizing the participants with basic Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS/GIS) skills, case studies related to use of EO in climate actions, and internet related resources such as GoogleEarth. The sessions will focus on issues such as snow and land cover change, disaster management and air quality. The last two days of the Forum are dedicated to project work preparing the youths to take local action in the community.
The Youth Forum has been designed to provide a regional platform to share and learn from each other. ICIMOD is already supporting youth network group, namely the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) which focuses on bringing together different civil society stakeholders at a national and international level on climate change issues. It is expected that the youth groups represented at the Forum will help to further disseminate the information about earth observation and the SERVIR-Himalaya initiative in their communities, the media and the public.
Throughout the Forum this blog will keep you updated on the proceedings, opinions and ideas presented. Please also check out our twitter page @earthsymposium for live commenting and coverage.
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