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YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES
Youth Participation in the UNCED Process
by Lydia Alpizar, Costa Rica
Background:
The basis of the United Nations Conference for Environment and Development (UNCED), was developed in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1972. This conference set some precedents in terms of the emerging concerns about the state of the Earth's environment and its impact on human development. Since this conference, a large majority of countries introduced environmental issues in their agendas. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was founded after the Stockholm Conference and many governmental and non-governmental environmental organizations were created.
Some years later, the World Commission on Environment and Development (known as the "Brundtland Commission") was created and in 1987 it presented a special report to the UN called "Our Common Future". This report "initiated the concept for the 1992 Earth Summit". The Brundtland Commission "recommended that the world convene again for a global conference, but this time to focus on environment and development."
After the report was presented, the UN decided to call for another world conference, in December 1989. Since then, different countries and peoples around the world began to be involved in one of the most important processes of the end of the century.
In these processes conference objectives and aims were shaped. UNCED was meant to "elaborate strategies and measures to halt and reverse the effects of environmental degradation in the context of strengthened national and international efforts to promote sustainable and environmentally sound development in all countries."
A Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) was established by the General Assembly to carry on the preparatory process leading up to the conference. In this process the documents that were going to be presented and agreed upon by governments at the Summit, were negotiated and discussed, taking into consideration input from the UN system, governments and NGOs.
The process held four preparatory meetings over a two year time frame . One of the most important characteristics of the process was the opportunity won by NGOs to participate in the preparatory process and in UNCED itself. After long discussions and opposition statements, NGOs were allowed to be accredited to participate in the process, to make statements and submit written texts (in some very special cases).
With the opening of the official process to NGO participation, organizations and social movements started to organize themselves in order to analyze the issues discussed in the UNCED debate, and to prepare their proposals and statements to be presented in the PrepComs and in the Earth Summit itself. The PrepCom process was, as someone described once, "a difficult and often controversial process of analysis, synthesis, report -writing , meetings, negotiations, more meetings, submitting proposals, rejecting proposals and more meetings".
There were preparatory processes carried out by different sectors including scientists, women, environmentalists, farmers and indigenous peoples, among others. Youth as a major sector of civil society, also played a major role in this process.
Different public forums were organized throughout the preparatory process and an International NGO Facilitating Committee was set up, leading up to the largest NGO preparatory conference, held in Paris, France, in December 1991.
It was in this context that youth, as one of the sectors of society concerned with the importance of the issues discussed in UNCED, started developing an organizing strategy towards the Earth Summit.
The first relevant youth participation in the process occurred in the "SEED Popular Forum" in Bergen, Norway, in 1990. "Looking at the slow proceedings, many activist of various NGOs could not believe their eyes: Even though the important topic of our future was to be discussed, only irrelevant political statements were exchanged." Youth along with other organizations tried to present their concerns for what was going on.
As a result of this forum, youth realized the importance that the youth sector could have in the UNCED process. The youth could serve as a voice to denounce those characteristics of the process that were questionable, present young people's concerns and proposals on the issues, taking advantage of the political autonomy that the sector has. Youth realized that they could be a child telling the emperor he had no clothes on.
Since Bergen more people from different regions became informed about the UNCED process and some coordination initiatives were started. Some of the most important initiatives were: the launching of an international youth campaign called A SEED (Action for Solidarity, Equity, Environment and Development), and the launching of an international joint coordination process for a World Youth Preparatory Forum for UNCED, called YOUTH '92. At the same time, some other initiatives were carried out by different international and regional youth organizations such as ISMUN (International Student Movement for the United Nations), AIESEC International and Youth for Development and Cooperation (YDC), among others. These initiatives are described and analyzed below.