Pillars of Climate Migration - A Youth Perspective

My name is Chiara (26 y), and I am the Human Rights and Migrant Protection focal point at the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UN MGCY), while also performing as Project Assistant at the University of Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum. Meanwhile, I write articles to enrich the environmental section of an online youth-led journalistic review.

I am deeply interested in climate migration, its features, and dynamics. My main purpose for commitment in climate migration is to provide solutions and protection guarantees to vulnerable people affected by changes in the climate. Since climate change has an effect on each individual, each individual should be protected, no matter where they are. 

Although the link between climate change and migration has been recently recognized in both UN Global Compacts, solid awareness of the detrimental impact that climate change has on vulnerable populations needs to be further raised. Climate and environmental disasters affect human rights and endanger people’s livelihood and health.

I believe that each of us can play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Children and youth, in particular, have the concrete potential to influence political and media debate on climate change and migration, advocating for global solutions and political commitment. The Migration Working Group of UN MGCY has been working on environment and migration for the past few years to give wide relevance of these two big challenges of our time. With the twofold aim to strengthen the understanding of the intersections between climate change and migration and to promote the role of Youth in advocating for the protection of the environment and migrants hit by climate change, UN MGCY has developed a short series on the matter.

‘Pillars of Climate Migration – A Youth Perspective’ aims at sowing key concepts and essential data on climate migration to then harvest young people’s understanding of climate-related vulnerability. This UN MGCY series seeks to raise youth awareness on these topics and calls for actions to protect our planet and the most climate-affected populations.

Stay tuned!

1st Episode: Climate Change, Migration & Vulnerability