We have five years left to dramatically scale up efforts to achieve the ambitious target of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030 and efforts to advance the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Treaty) are central to this process.  

The leadership of young people worldwide, who make up nearly half the world’s population, is critical to achieving these goals in collaboration with government leaders and conservation organizations. With this in mind, EarthEcho International, the High Seas Alliance, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and WILDTRUST partnered to host the session, Building momentum for youth priorities toward 30×30 and BBNJ implementation, a nature positive path to UNOC3 at the recent United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity COP16 Meeting in Cali, Colombia. This unique session united young ocean advocates, government officials, and NGO leaders from 14 countries to highlight the importance of youth leadership and intergenerational collaboration for advancing the 30x30 ocean goal and the implementation of the High Seas Treaty.

The session kicked off with opening remarks from Ambassador Peter Thomson, the United Nation Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Jonathan Delance, Chief Conservation Officer with the 30x30 program in the Ministry of Natural Resources of Dominican Republic, and youth leaders Emma Chu (EarthEcho Youth Leadership Council), Samkelisiwe Danisa (WILDTRUST), and Sonia Violante Ptasznik (High Seas Youth Ambassador) who set the stage for a collaborative conversation which resulted in the following recommendations and perspectives:

Building Momentum to Advance 30x30 and the BBNJ Treaty - opportunities and resource needs for collaboration among youth and government Officials:

At a base level young people have a role to play in increasing ocean literacy - both educating their peers and community members about the importance of ocean protection and mobilizing these audiences to be vocal advocates for advancing ocean protection targets. Young people must utilize the communication resources and networks at their disposal to move audiences from awareness of ocean issues to playing an active role in political processes to advocate for these causes. These efforts will continue to provide the backing needed to support government leaders’ efforts to scale up ambition for ocean protection. Youth delegates also highlighted a need for continued and improved coordination across the various youth networks, organizations, and constituencies to major UN convenings.

In the ocean policy arena, government officials and agencies should increase efforts to actively engage youth in decision making roles. In doing so, governments must move beyond looking to young people simply for input on how to engage youth audiences. Young people’s expertise and lived experiences working to address the impacts of the climate crisis and ocean biodiversity loss should be prioritized, and meaningful spaces should be created for young people to contribute their ideas, solutions, and perspectives on key ocean policy topics. This could include creating youth advisory roles on specific ocean policy topic areas and/or modeling programs like the Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change at all levels of governance. Government agencies should also consider capacity building approaches including ensuring young professionals and junior level staff members are included in meaningful roles through participation in convenings like the Convention on Biological Diversity COPs.

Session attendees also highlighted the need to couple these roles with funding opportunities and support with accreditation access to key policy convenings for young people.

Youth Engagement in Shaping Ocean Policies through Official Government Delegations - what opportunities exist and what new opportunities should be created:

Youth delegates attending the session cited challenges they faced when working to develop a role in official government delegations working to advance the 30x30 ocean goal and BBNJ Treaty. While some governments have youth representatives as part of their official delegations to convenings like the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COPs, many do not. Young people have struggled to make inroads to develop these opportunities and need governments to reach out and work collaboratively to create pathways for this style of youth engagement.

To ensure youth engagement in official government delegations is effective, this level of leadership should be accompanied by intentional mentoring programs. International policy forums are complex and there’s a steep learning curve to be able to operate effectively in these spaces. We need government officials and NGO leaders who know these bodies to bring young people in and mentor them through the processes. This will ensure the effectiveness of the youth delegates as well as long term succession planning to ensure knowledge of these processes is passed down through generations of leadership.

In addition to the need for mentorship, youth engaged in official government delegations should have a direct process to meaningfully engage with and effectively serve as a conduit of information and communicator with other youth. This ensures youth in these leadership roles are bringing the representative perspectives of their peers into the policy conversations at the highest level.

Building Momentum Post COP16:

A key point of discussion focused on the need for continuing the momentum from this session and others beyond COP16 and similar convenings. Participants stressed the need for regional and national level collaboration between youth and government officials as well as the importance of youth-driven actions to build momentum in their respective countries for the advancement of the BBNJ Treaty. Delegates also stressed the need to ensure the joint conversations amongst youth and government officials aren’t one-offs, with recommendations for Pre-COP convenings networking youth and government leaders to outline their shared priorities in advance, as well as post-COP events and communication campaigns to elevate these shared priorities.

Session participants called for opportunities for collaboration among youth stakeholder groups, such as the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, as well as the need to ensure a formal youth constituency in the BBNJ process as the treaty advances toward implementation. Similarly, expanded collaboration between youth and NGOs working jointly to advance the 30x30 ocean goal and BBNJ was seen as key to maintaining and accelerating this momentum.

A special thank you to all participants, partners, and the COP16 Nature Positive Pavilion for making this important dialogue possible. We look forward to building on these conversations and advancing action to scale up ocean protection through collaboration between youth leaders and government officials.

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