Youth excel at Climate Cooperation Reception

09 November 2021

A post by Rachel Cameron, Youth Committee member.

Our Youth Committee, some of our Youth members and two Climate Leaders from Malawi were thrilled to attend the Climate Cooperation event and to be in the presence of His Excellency President of Malawi Dr Lazarus Chakwera last Thursday 4th November at the City Chambers in Edinburgh.

We, as a Youth Committee, were delighted to see so many young people and some school groups in attendance. We really enjoyed speaking with some of the young people and gaining their perspectives on climate change and why the reception was beneficial to them.

The general consensus from the school pupils was that the event was beneficial as they gained a deeper and better understanding of the work done within the Scotland Malawi Partnership especially what they were doing to help tackle climate change. One of the pupils from St Margaret’s High School commented: “It was good to see the wider partnership between Scotland and Malawi and to gain a more detailed insight into the work being done between Scotland and Malawi.” Daisy from George Watson’s college enjoyed hearing from our young people who spoke at the reception. Daisy said: “It’s been really insightful listening to young people and hearing their views.”

Our Youth Committee were delighted to hear His Excellency President Chakwera address the congregation at the reception. He spoke about the importance of including young people in the fight against climate change. We were thrilled to hear this directly live from His Excellency and we were all in full agreement with him. His Excellency told the congregation: “Young people are the most important people. It is their world and their future we are looking to save. It is vital we engage young people throughout this process.”

We then asked the school pupils what they thought about including young people in the fight against climate change. Another pupil from St Margaret’s said: “The more you get involved at a young age, the better impact you can make on climate change. We are the future of the planet so we need to make sure we take care of it.”

Overall, the event was a great success and we, the Youth Committee, really enjoyed being in attendance. Another Youth Committee member, Max, and I spoke with Brenda and Dorothy, young climate leaders from Malawi, before the reception and we found their opinions really insightful. We gained a better understanding on how we can support our youth members in the fight against climate change and we look forward to a cleaner and greener future.