The Regional Conference of Youth (RCOY) scored big at the 5th SADC Youth Forum
Climate Change has emerged as the apartheid of our time, wreaking havoc on planet Earth and leaving a lot to be desired. The crisis has resulted in several induced disasters chief amongst these being food insecurity, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, forced migration, and loss of sources of livelihoods amongst other calamities. All the aforementioned directly impact young people as the economically active age group particularly in the global South who have least contributed to it but get to bear the brunt of the crisis.
It is based on these uncertainties that the Southern Africa Youth Forum (SAYoF) and its partner organizations under the office of the Southern Africa Climate Youth Envoy and Environment and Climate Change Cluster organized The Regional Conference of Youth (RCOY) scored big at the 5th SADC Youth Forum and hosted the first-ever Southern Africa Regional Conference on Youth (R-COY) 2023 to deliberate on critical climate issues affecting young people in the region, inspired by climate activists who are successfully advancing the agenda in the region. This conference, held in collaboration with YOUNGO under the UNFCCC Process brought together young leaders from the region to strategize and discuss issues related to the urgent need to address climate change and ensure environmental sustainability in advance of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Africa Climate Week.
