16/06/2025
Alana Institute and LACLIMA are launching the policy paper “Children and the UN Climate COPs: A Primary Consideration for Their Future in the Present” during the 2025 Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany.
The document analyzes the mention of terms such as “children,” “youth,” and “future generations” in the decisions of the main UN climate change conferences (COPs), CMP (Kyoto Protocol), and CMA (Paris Agreement).
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The research identified three distinct phases: an initial period of sporadic mentions between 1992 and 2010, a phase of increased attention to the topic from 2011 to 2017, and more strategic references from 2018 to 2024.
The term “children,” for example, went from just 2 mentions between 1992 and 2010 to 77 mentions from 2018 to 2024; meanwhile, “youth” increased from 8 to 123 mentions over the same period.
The paper also revisits important milestones along this trajectory, such as:
- 2009: Formal recognition of YOUNGO (the official youth constituency in the UNFCCC process);
- 2010: First mention of children in UNFCCC decisions (Decision 1/CP.16);
- 2021: Establishment of the Glasgow Work Programme on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), with guidelines on climate education and the participation of children and youth;
- 2023: Formalization of the role of Youth Climate Champion by the COP presidency;
- 2024: Holding of the Specialized Dialogue on Children and Climate Change, as established in Decision 1/CMA.5.
In addition to this analysis, the material also presents concrete recommendations to integrate children’s rights into the negotiation agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“All topics discussed at the COP must align with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child — an international human rights treaty adopted 35 years ago and the most widely ratified in history. While references to children already appear in COP negotiations, they must be strengthened. Now that we have a record of the progress made in previous conferences, it is from that basis and alongside children that we will build the path forward”, says Letícia Carvalho, lawyer and international advisor at the Alana Institute.
