Introduction
In the lead-up to the Seventh Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) and other key regional and global policy processes, this virtual Arab Youth Environment Forum (AYEF) aims to enhance the preparedness and engagement of youth from the region to enable them to meaningfully contribute to these processes.
The Forum will be guided by the priority areas identified by the UNEP Executive Director for UNEA-7, with particular attention to regional challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, land degradation, and environmental governance.
The event will provide a platform for awareness-raising, capacity building, sharing regional updates, and gathering youth inputs for key processes including the Regional Consultative Meeting for West Asia, the Meeting of the Council of Arab Ministries Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) and the Global Youth Environmental Assembly (G-YEA).
Objectives
1. Awareness-raising: Raise awareness about the triple planetary crisis and key environmental governance processes (UNEA, MEAs, science-policy interfaces, etc.).
2. Capacity-building: Strengthen capacity of Arab and West Asia youth to meaningfully engage in UNEA-7 and related processes.
3. Policy briefing: Share key updates on the Youth Environment Assembly (YEA), thematic areas and draft resolutions for UNEA-7, and broader environmental governance developments relevant to the region.
4. Youth consultation: Collect youth perspectives and priorities to feed into: ○ Regional Consultative Meeting for West Asia ○ Arab Ministerial Meeting on Environment ○ Global Youth Environmental Assembly (GYEA) at UNEA-7
Target audience
● Young people, and youth-led and youth-serving organizations from Arab countries and West Asia
● Environmental activists, students, and early-career professionals
● Representatives from civil society, academia, and regional institutions
Expected outcomes
● Raised awareness among Arab and West Asia youth on the triple planetary crisis and the structure, relevance, and entry points of global environmental governance processes, including UNEP work and UNEA.
● Improved capacity of youth participants to actively and meaningfully engage in regional and global environmental governance.
● Timely and clear dissemination of key updates on UNEA-7 priority themes, Youth Environment Assembly (YEA) plans, enhancing regional alignment and youth preparedness for engagement.
● Development of a Youth Manifesto reflecting regional youth priorities and policy asks, to be submitted to the West Asia Regional Consultative Meeting, the Arab Ministerial Meeting on Environment, and the Global Youth Environment Assembly.
