CEE and URI Publish Youth-Focused Report Ahead of Biodiversity COP
“Ecosystem restoration can revive local traditions and deepen our bonds with land, water and other species. This is especially true when the restoration efforts are guided by the values, culture […] The post CEE and URI Publish Youth-Focused Report Ahead of Biodiversity COP appeared first on Center for Earth Ethics.
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“Ecosystem restoration can revive local traditions and deepen our bonds with land, water and other species. This is especially true when the restoration efforts are guided by the values, culture and spirituality (VCS) of the people living in the community. A strengthened connection with Earth and with one another supports unique and thriving localities.”
This key finding anchors a new report from Center for Earth Ethics and United Religions Initiative: “Our Future: Empowering Youth-Led Global Biodiversity Movements.” The report is the culmination of a multi-year research project with URI to cultivate global grassroots dialogues on values, culture, spirituality and ecosystem restoration.
We produced “Our Future” ahead of the UN’s recent biodiversity conference, COP16 (shorthand for the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity), which took place in Cali, Colombia, from October 21-November 1.
Bhikkhu Vasu Bandhu of URI and the Faith for Earth Youth Council explored the report’s themes and key findings at COP16’s Faith Hub in a panel featuring Allen Ottaro of Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability, Dálethe Melissa of Tearfund and Flore Ghetti of Soka Gakkai.
“Our Future” highlights the critical role of youth in addressing biodiversity loss and ecosystem restoration. This echoes the ambitions of the Pact of the Future, adopted at the UN’s 2024 Summit of the Future, which committed to taking future generations into account during policy decisions and decision making.
The report synthesizes survey findings from individuals 30 years and younger who have used CEE’s “Values, Culture and Spirituality: Ecosystems Restoration Conversation Guide” to initiate local conversations and restoration projects. Consultations were held throughout the world, including the Latin America and Caribbean region: Venezuela (22%), Brazil (22%), Guatemala (11%), Panama (11%), India (6%), Tanzania (6%), Argentina (6%), Ecuador (6%), Honduras (6%), Mexico (6%).
Ecosystem restoration is defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as, “the process of halting and reversing degradation, resulting in improved ecosystem services and recovered biodiversity.” Survey respondents were asked to describe what ecosystem restoration means to them. A few responses included:
“Ecosystem restoration to our group means regenerating degraded lands using biodiversity, Indigenous farming practices and spiritual connection. We aim to improve soil health, conserve water and increase climate resilience. Our project strives to enhance food security, empower local communities through eco-friendly livelihoods, and strengthen ties between people and nature.”
“The connection with nature and all the beings that inhabit it.”
“For us the restoration of ecosystems is nothing more than giving life back to beings that have no voice, the damage we do and restoring it but improving it. A good habitat for animals that have lost it, a more breathable environment.”
Survey findings emphasized the need for strengthening a VCS-centered approach, community engagement and financial support to increase local youth participation in meeting global biodiversity targets.
10 Guiding Principles
1. Creating a Flourishing World
2. Uplifting Stories, Narrative and History
3. Practice Humility
4. Find Ways to Be Inclusive
5. Restore Relationship
6. Honor Grief and Pain
7. Acknowledge Sacredness and Worldview
8. Integrate Rituals and Traditions
9. Develop Inner Restoration
10. Encourage Celebration and Gratitude
Intergenerational work is central to the VCS framework. Survey participants acknowledged that working alongside elders was essential to the longevity of these conservation projects. In one interview between a young leader and community elder, the elder focused the conversation by asking “What values do we most want to pass on to future generations?” and “What ancestral traditions and customs related to nature can we recover and revitalize in our community?”
Ecosystem restoration projects succeed when the community is meaningfully engaged. This includes establishing partnership hubs among NGOs, governments, academia and communities or bioregional networks. The report suggests “establishing or joining bioregional networks can also help community restoration efforts. Bioregions are areas defined by their ecological systems and characteristics as opposed to political boundaries.”
Finally, financial support is essential. Restoration projects need to partner with municipal, regional, educational and non-governmental institutions to help meet financial gaps and reassess available funds. And youth must be placed in positions of financial power: “excluding youth from representation in these organizations only amplifies the current imbalance of power of financial flows. Youth networks are powerful, and having a youth chapter or a youth chair within philanthropies or non-profits connects young people to the organizations that are restoring ecosystems or funding youth-led organizations.”
Diplomats from roughly 180 countries met for negotiations at COP16. One of the key outcomes discussed at COP was the creation of a permanent subsidiary body on Indigenous Peoples and local communities as well as a program of work on Article 8(j), which mandates that parties to the CBD “respect, preserve and maintain” the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and to “encourage the equitable sharing of benefits” from this knowledge. Certain agenda items that were on the table from the previous round of biodiversity talks in Montreal, such as how to mobilize and distribute approximately $200 billion a year through 2030, remained unresolved. For an in-depth summary of key outcomes from COP16, check out this Carbon Brief piece.
Samira Siddique
Samira Siddique is director of strategic initiatives at Center for Earth Ethics
The post CEE and URI Publish Youth-Focused Report Ahead of Biodiversity COP appeared first on Center for Earth Ethics.
