Two young people from Qatar will represent the country at the ‘Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition’ conference this month in Milan, Italy.
Hosted by the Italian government, the three-day conference will start on September 28 as a prelude to the UN Conference of Parties Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November.
Neeshad Shafi and Fatima Ahmad Abuhaliqa will be Qatar’s flagbearers at the youth climate conference hosted by Italy in partnership with the UK, which are co-hosting this year's UN Climate Change Summit (COP26).
‘Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition’ is a landmark youth event that will be held in Milan, Italy prior to pre-COP26. Some 400 young people, two each from the 197 member-countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change selected from a poll of more than 8,000 applications, will meet in Milan from September 28 to 30 to participate in fast-paced working groups with other Youth4Climate champions and develop concrete proposals that will be presented to ministers attending the pre-COP and COP26.
“Being selected to represent Qatar youth at the Youth4Climate summit is an absolute honour and a great opportunity to raise climate concerns, solutions and priority areas from Arab region on an international scene. At the same time, I will learn from the remarkable global climate activists and great networking opportunity for country’s representatives to build collaborations and partnerships, to integrate new ideas and tools into the climate-related work back home,” said Shafi, who is executive director of Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, a registered youth-led environmental and climate advocacy, awareness, and policy-based NGO in Qatar.
Shafi was distinguished as one of the World’s 100 most influential people in Climate Policy in 2019 by Apolitical. He is also the only participant from the Arab region who is part of the governance team.
“I am excited to work with young people from around the world who will be attending the summit where I can share and learn from one another. Also, I am proud to be representing my country and hope that my efforts encourage more Qatari youth engagement,” said Abuhaliqa, an Electrical Engineering student at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ). She is also the co-founder of Dawarha Qatar, a youth-led environmental initiative.
At Youth4Climate, delegates will be split into four working groups: youth driving ambition, sustainable recovery, non-state actor engagement, and climate-conscious society.
They are also expected to come up with a youth declaration. Participants will then engage in a dialogue with negotiators and ministers attending the pre-COP. The participants to Youth4Climate summit were selected by a committee of the youth with support from the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY) and Italian Ministry of Ecological Transmission.
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