The historic Latin American Youth Climate Summit took place in 2022 in the city of Cartago, Costa Rica. Three days of pure reflection, exchange and debate led to the drafting of a participatory regional document with 10 recommendations for national governments and another 10 for large emitters.
The regeneration generation: the RCOY ended successfully and the declaration "From protest to proposal" is ready. Three days of pure reflection, exchange and debate between more than 300 young people led to drafting a participatory regional document with 10 recommendations for national governments and another 10 for large emitters.
The historic Latin American Youth Climate Summit took place at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, located in the city of Cartago, in person for the first time. This conference of youth for youth brought together more than 300 climate leaders on site and more than hundreds remotely, 200 networked organizations from 18 countries and more than 210 initiatives submitted by them. In addition to serving as a stepping stone to the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, the RCOY was an essential opportunity for debate that Latin America deserved.
The Summit began with the installation of a slogan that young environmentalists embraced, are embracing and will embrace from now on with great force.
We are the generation of regeneration
"We are the generation of regeneration," said Nasha Cuvelier, one of the conference organizers. This is a concept that will not remain dialectical but has already been put into action through the collective struggle against the climate crisis. In this line, the environmental leaders elaborated the declaration "From protest to proposal", a participatory regional document that calls for action from decision-makers and big business, with 10 recommendations for each.
These are the "10 recomendaciones desde las juventudes latinoamericanas para los gobiernos nacionales en la región y 10 para los grandes emisores globales" which young climate leaders agreed on at the Latin American Youth Climate Summit in Cartago, Costa Rica.
The construction of the participatory document also entitled "From Protest to Proposal" required a series of successive stages. For the development of this document, during the months of June, July and August, online trainings open to young people from all over the Latin American region were held in order to create and strengthen capacities. Likewise, during the months of July, August and September, online assemblies were held to discuss the content of the participatory document.
The agenda of the event unfolded as expected. At the opening ceremony on Monday 12, 20 different speakers participated, raising their voices in the name of climate justice. The Regional Coordination's welcoming remarks were given by the five organization representatives: Nasha Cuvellier for Sustentabilidad sin Fronteras; María Aguilar for Eco House; Patsy Contardo for Uno.Cinco; Adrián Martínez for La Ruta del Clima; and Natalia Gómez for Red de Juventudes y Cambio Climático de Costa Rica. On behalf of the host institution TEC, the welcome was given by María Teresa Hernández Jiménez, Desireé Mora and Diana Zambrano. As the RCOY Latin America is not just a conference, but the largest community of young environmentalists in the region, the starting point is Latin American unity.
This article was produced with the support of the Global Support for Democracy Unit of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union. It is part of the dossier "Youth & democracy in Latin America. Young voices on the rise".