Correction: Exposure to climate risks and youth engagement with climate change

Beyond tokenism: meaningful youth engagement in planetary health

This article examines youth participation the school climate strikes of 2018 and 2019 (also known as #Fridays4Future), through an exploratory study conducted in seven diverse cities. Despite the international nature of the climate strikes, we know little about the factors that influenced youth participation in these protests beyond the global North. This matters because youth of the global South are disproportionately impacted by climate change and there is growing concern that the climate movement is dominated by narratives that marginalize the voices and priorities of Indigenous communities and people of color. In this context, the exploratory research reported here aimed to compare the attitudes of climate protesters (n= 314) and their non-protester peers (n= 1,217), in diverse city samples drawn from a wider study of children and youth aged 12–24 years, living in Christchurch (New Zealand); Dhaka (Bangladesh); Lambeth, London (United Kingdom); Makhanda (South Africa); New Delhi (India); São Paulo (Brazil); and Yokohama (Japan). Using cross-sectional data (N= 1,531) and binary logistic regression models, researchers examined three common explanations for youth participation in protest: availability (biographical and structural), political engagement (reported individual and collective efficacy of strikers and non-strikers), and self-reported biospheric values amongst participants. Results indicate that even in diverse city samples, structural availability (civic skills and organizational membership) predicted strike participation across city samples, but not political engagement (self-efficacy and collective efficacy). Youth who reported that ‘living in harmony with nature and animals’ was important for their wellbeing, were also more likely to strike than their peers. Descriptive statistics indicated that the majority (85 percent) of all protestors in this study agreed climate change was a serious issue and a startling 65 percent said that they think about climate change “all the time”. Reported rates of youth climate protest participation varied across city samples as did the extent to which participants reported having friends take part or expecting climate change to have a personal impact. While the study is exploratory, it points to the need for more extensive research to understand the diversity of youth participation in ‘global climate strikes’.

In the context of complex intergenerational challenges such as climate change and sustainable development, it is increasingly important for scientists and policy-makers to actively engage with and support the meaningful participation of youth in policy and decision-making. This research evaluates the effectiveness and impact of the Youth in Landscapes Initiative in supporting the active participation and leadership development of youth (aged 18–30 years old) participants at the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), an international science-policy forum. This ‘youth program’ comprised a Youth Session, skills workshops and mentoring programs to empower youth through leadership and capacity building opportunities. Results show a high demand for youth participation: 34% of GLF conference delegates expressed interest to attend the Youth Session, over 22% of GLF session organisers requested youth to take on leadership roles, and the youth program itself received over 770 applications for the ‘facilitator’ and ‘pitcher’ leadership positions. The skills-based ‘masterclasses’ successfully built the confidence and knowledge of youth participants, as shown by post-evaluation survey responses. This translated into active and substantive youth participation throughout the forum. Senior professionals connected to the program praised it highly, seeing it as an opportunity for mutual, intergenerational learning. The Youth in Landscape Initiative is presented as a model and distilled into a framework to inform future youth engagement strategies in international conferences and associated science-policy processes.

While there are many studies about the environmental impacts of climate change in the Canadian north, the role of Indigenous youth in climate governance has been a lesser focus of inquiry. A popularized assumption in some literature is that youth have little to contribute to discussions on climate change and other aspects of land and resource management; such downplay of youth expertise and engagement may be contributing to climate anxiety (e.g., feelings of hopelessness), particularly in remote communities. Creating opportunities for youth to have a voice in global forums such as the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP24) on Climate Change may offset such anxiety. Building on previous research related to climate action, and the well-being of Indigenous youth, this paper shares the outcomes of research with Indigenous youth (along with family and teachers) from the Mackenzie River Basin who attended COP24 to determine the value of their experience. Key questions guiding these interviews included: How did youth impact others? and How did youth benefit from the experience? Key insights related to the value of a global experience; multiple youth presentations at COP24 were heard by hundreds of people who sought to learn more from youth about their experience of climate change. Additional insights were gathered about the importance of family and community (i.e., webs of support); social networks were seen as key to the success of youth who participated in the event and contributed to youth learning and leadership development.

The scientific community agrees that climate change is happening, is largely human induced, and will have serious consequences for human health (Field and others 2014). The health consequences of climate variability and change are diverse, potentially affecting the burden of a wide range of health outcomes. Changing weather patterns can affect the magnitude and pattern of morbidity and mortality from extreme weather and climate events, and from changing concentrations of ozone, particulate matter, and aeroallergens (Smith and others 2014). Changing weather patterns and climatic shifts may also create environmental conditions that facilitate alterations in the geographic range, seasonality, and incidence of some infectious diseases in some regions, such as the spread of malaria into highland areas in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Changes in water availability and agricultural productivity could affect undernutrition, particularly in some parts of Africa and Asia (Lloyd, Kovats, and Chalabi 2011). Although climate change will likely increase positive health outcomes in some regions, the overall balance will be detrimental for health and well-being, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries that experience higher burdens of climate-sensitive health outcomes (Smith and others 2014).The pathways between climate change and health outcomes are often complex and indirect, making attribution challenging. Climate change may not be the most important driver of climate-sensitive health outcomes over the next few decades but could be significant past the middle of this century. Climate change is a stress multiplier, putting pressure on vulnerable systems, populations, and regions. For example, temperature is associated with the incidence of some food- and water-borne diseases that are significant sources of childhood mortality (Smith and others 2014). Reducing the burden of these diseases requires improved access to safe water and improved sanitation. Poverty is a primary driver underlying the health risks of climate change (Smith and others 2014). Poverty alleviation programs could improve the capacity of health systems to manage risks and reduce the overall costs of a changing climate.Climate change entails other unique challenges:Significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) in the next few years will be critical to preventing more severe climate change later in the century, but they will have limited effects on weather patterns in the short term. In terms of costing, another complexity is that these policies and technologies are associated with short-term health benefits (Garcia-Menendez and others 2015).Reducing and managing health risks over the next few decades will require modifying health systems to prepare for, cope with, and recover from the health consequences of climate variability and change; these changes are part of what is termed adaptation. Adaptation will be required across the century, with the extent of mitigation being a key determinant of health systems’ ability to manage risks projected later in the century (Smith and others 2014). No matter the success of adaptation and mitigation, residual risks from climate change will burden health systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).Given these complexities, estimating the costs of managing the health risks of climate variability and change is not straightforward. The wide range of health outcomes potentially affected means counting (1) costs associated with increased health care and public health interventions for morbidity and mortality from a long list of climate-sensitive health outcomes; (2) costs associated with lost work days and lower productivity; and (3) costs associated with well-being. Costs could also accrue from repeated episodes of malaria, diarrhea, or other infectious diseases that affect childhood development and health in later life. Costs associated with actions taken in other sectors are also important for health, such as access to safe water and improved sanitation. A portion of the costs of managing the health risks associated with migrants and environmental refugees could be, but has not been, counted.Further, costs and benefits will be displaced over time, with costs associated with increased health burdens occurring now because of past greenhouse gas emissions and benefits occurring later in the century because of mitigation implemented in the next few years. A few preliminary estimates have been made of the costs of adaptation. However, more work is needed to understand how climate variability and change could affect the ability of health systems to manage risks over long temporal scales.This chapter reviews the health risks of climate variability and change, discusses key components of those risks, summarizes the attributes of climate-resilient health systems, provides an overview of the costs of increasing health resilience that arise from other sectors, reviews temporal and spatial scale issues, and summarizes key conclusions regarding the costs of the health risks of climate change.

Climate change is a complex and contentious public issue, but the risk-management options available to us are straightforward and have well-characterized strengths and weaknesses.

This study employed a mixed methodology to assess the effectiveness of youth engagement strategies in climate change agenda and sustainable development within Naitolia village, in Monduli district Tanzania. Non-probability sampling techniques were used to determine a total of 147 youthful respondents aged between 15 and 35 years from Ormang’wai and Engusero sub-villages. Qualitative data were collected using FGDs, in-depth interviews and direct field observations; while quantitative data were collected using respondent questionnaires. The findings reveal that 81.0% of respondents had awareness of the explicit and implicit engagement strategies in the area. Binary logistic regression model showed that mixed livelihoods and education systems significantly influenced the respondents’ awareness and engagement trends in priority development goals. Most engagement strategies embraced a combination of explicit and implicit strategies to enhance livelihood resilience. However, implicit strategic interventions were popular, while explicit strategies were considered ineffective and tokenistic due to mismatched execution of misaligned ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies. Despite increasing awareness of climate change, existing youth engagement strategies are still misplaced, tokenistic and ineffective in guaranteeing sustainable development in a rapidly changing climate. The study recommends proper mapping and inclusion of key stakeholders to raise public awareness and resource harmonization for enhanced youth engagement in climate change and sustainable development. Specifically, it recommends concrete paradigm shifts in governance, education systems, skills development pathways and financial accessibility to create enabling environments for effective youth engagement and empowerment in climate change and beyond priority development goals.

The role of migration as one potential adaptation to climate change is increasingly recognized, but little is known about whether migration constitutes successful adaptation, under what conditions, and for whom. Based on a review of emerging migration science, we propose that migration is a successful adaptation to climate change if it increases well-being, reduces inequality, and promotes sustainability. Well-being, equity, and sustainability represent entry points for identifying trade-offs within and across different social and temporal scales that could potentially undermine the success of migration as adaptation. We show that assessment of success at various scales requires the incorporation of consequences such as loss of population in migration source areas, climate risk in migration destination, and material and non-material flows and economic synergies between source and destination. These dynamics and evaluation criteria can help make migration visible and tractable to policy as an effective adaptation option.

Climate change (CC) is a complex global environmental challenge that has a worldwide effect on public health, development, agriculture, water supplies, and energy production. In addition to international efforts, youth engagement is vital to environmental conservation and climate action support. Therefore, the study aimed to assess knowledge, perceptions, and practices toward CC and its effects on health among university students in Jalalabd, Afghanistan. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted on 471 public and private university students in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, from September 2023 to December 2023. A non-probability-convenient sampling technique was used to select study participants. The data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 28. In this study, a total of 471 students were enrolled. 87.3% were male and 12.7% were female. Majority of them (95.5%) had heard of CC and believed that it affected their communities. The main sources of information about CC were television and radio (77.5%). Water-borne diseases, disruption of health services, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, malnutrition, vector-borne disease, were identified by students as CC related health impacts. Among the students, (72.8%) had adequate knowledge, and (27.2%) were having inadequate knowledge regarding CC and its effects on health. Raising public awareness, adopting environmentally friendly technologies, increasing tree planting, and proper waste disposal were mentioned by over 90% of the students as ways to reduce CC. Most common eco-friendly practices among the students were using recyclable products (77.2%), using public transportation (77.1%), and using energy-efficient lightbulbs (75.2%). There was a significant association between the students’ knowledge and their practices. In addition, university type, academic year level, and information sources were significantly related to their knowledge. The study concluded that the majority of the participants were aware of CC and agreed that CC is a serious problem, but they had inadequate practices compared to their knowledge. It is crucial to translate students' knowledge into deliberate practices. In order to implement eco-friendly practices, students must be inspired to care for the environment through various activities on important environmental days, like world environment day.

Mental health and climate change: tackling invisible injustice

Pennsylvania State University, USADespite overwhelming consensus among scientists about thereality of anthropogenic climate change (Bray, 2010; Oreskes,2004), there remains significant reluctance on the part ofcitizens and politicians to take the action needed to addressit. This resistance has been repeatedly identified in socialresearch (Leiserowitz & Maibach, 2010; Leviston, Leitch,Greenhill, Leonard, & Walker, 2011; Lorenzoni & Pidgeon,2006; McCright & Dunlap, 2011; Reser, Bradley, Glendon,Ellul, & Callaghan, 2012) and is mirrored by the lack of prog-ress made by salient political summits (Rogelj et al., 2010).Perhaps as a response to this, scholarly journals and articlesthat are focused on climate change are growing. Naturalscientists tell us that we know what needs to be done to avertdangerous climate change (IPCC, 2014), and economists tellus that delaying action in the short term will lead to muchgreater costs in the long term (Stern, 2007). Understandingpublic responses to climate change and developing solutionsto catalyse action is a critical challenge for the social sciences,and we propose that the development and elaboration of asocial psychology of climate change would be a cornerstoneof such an approach.We do not make the claim that social psychology has all theanswers but rather that the theories, models and researchmethods of social psychology can provide a powerful arsenalto complement the approaches of other disciplines. Re-searchers have already begun to apply social psychologicaltheory and methods to the issue of climate change, and wehighlight in the following sections examples of the insightsthat have flowed from this. We cannot assume, though, thatour theories and findings will automatically generalise to theclimate change context. As Moser (2010) has noted, thereare unique dimensions to climate change that make it distinctfrom other environmental, risk and health issues: The causesof climate change are invisible to humans, the impacts are dis-tal and it is complex and riddled with uncertainties. Modernurban humans are to some extent insulated from their physicalenvironment, and the lags between the climate and social sys-tems make it difficult for people to understand their role ininfluencing climate.These factors suggest the importance of developing a socialpsychology of climate change, empirically testing, integratingand refining existing theories and models to develop newframeworks. The notion that psychology can play a role inunderstanding and addressing climate change is not a newone. The American Psychological Association’s Task Forceon the interface between psychology and global climatechange comprehensively detailed the ways in which psycho-logical research can help to understand people’s perceptionsof the risks of climate change, the contribution of human be-haviour to climate change, the psychosocial impacts of climatechange, the ways in which people can adapt and cope withclimate change and the psychological barriers that could limitclimate change action (Swim et al., 2009, 2011).It is also not a new idea that social psychology can play animportant role in understanding and addressing environmentalproblems and solutions (Clayton & Brook, 2005). Social psy-chology, specifically, has a long tradition oftheory andresearchthat is relevant to addressing key climate change questions.Attitudes, social cognition, persuasion and attitude change, so-cial influence, and intragroup and intergroup behaviour, forinstance, are fundamental foci for social psychology and havedirect relevance for understanding the human and social dimen-sionsofclimatechange.Thetimeisripetounderstandtherangeof research that has been developing in social psychology onattitudes, beliefs and actions, to build upon these insights, andintegrate them with knowledge from other sciences to developmodels and theories indigenous to the climate change context.In the following section, we provide a brief overview of re-cent social psychological research that addresses three broadthemes relevant to understanding and responding to climatechange. These themes are as follows: (i) social psychologicalinfluences on climate change attitudes and beliefs; (ii) facilita-tors and barriers to climate change action; and (iii) changingclimate change attitudes and behaviour. Although there issome overlap in these themes, as an organising principle theyintuitively map on to key questions that arise in relation to cli-mate change. Our aim is to highlight recent examples of socialpsychological research that provide interesting and importantinsights in relation to these themes. Swim, Markowitz, andBloodhart (2012) have noted that much of the social psycho-logical research on climate change has emerged since 2006;we focus in on the most recent of this research that has beenpublished since 2010. We also outline how the studies in thespecial issue relate to these themes. We recognise that theseare not the only areas where social psychological researchand theory can make important contributions but they never-theless relate to key questions that need to be addressed. Weconclude the introduction by proposing considerations thatsocial psychologists could take into account in their futureresearch on climate change.European Journal of Social Psychology, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 44, 413–420 (2014)

Climate Change and the Health of the Public

The City University of New York

This paper responds to lessons from the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy (AYHP) process in South Africa by drawing comparisons with youth participation within the climate justice movement. Relationship building is essential to successful youth participation in health policy and climate change as it creates intergenerational learning and cross-cultural engagement. At the same time, both sets of youth also deal with compounding challenges due to contemporary and historical legacies of colonialism and inequality. Yet, tokenism challenges the participatory process as adults profess to value youth perspectives, yet recommendations by youth often do not get incorporated into policies or plans. For organizations and agencies trying to build youth's capacity, organizations and agencies should look to programs that train youth in advocacy. These programs help build youth's confidence, increase their optimism for change, and give youth a sense of ownership.

Despite youth organisations having participated as a recognised constituency (YOUNGO) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over a decade, few studies have explored their lived experiences of participation. Drawing upon deep ethnographic engagement with a member organisation of YOUNGO conducted between 2015 and 2018, this paper applies the “7P” model from the Youth Studies literature to explore youth participation in the UNFCCC from seven intersecting lenses: Purpose, Positioning, Perspectives, Power Relations, Protection, Place, and Process. This yields many insights into how youth participants negotiate sustainability in this context, including the Purposes or drivers motivating their participation, the ways in which youth are Positioned within the UNFCCC, the asymmetrical Power Relations they have to navigate, as well as the logistical challenges relating to their Protection, including their physical safety and psychological wellbeing. Based on rich empirical findings, we amend the 7P model of youth participation, replacing Process, which we argue is more of a methodological than an analytical concern, with Psychological Factors, which we propose is a key factor in shaping youth participation in negotiations of sustainability.