Our Why

Both nature and young people are underserved and underrepresented in climate action, funding, and policy, yet both are critical components of nature and climate solutions.

Youth bear the burden of our intersecting planetary crisis – climate, nature, social inequity. Yet we are often excluded from decision-making processes that have a profound influence on our present and our future. By directing the ambition and moral authority that youth hold, we can influence key climate-nature decisions that will determine the shape of our collective futures. Y4N is a vehicle to direct this ambition by educating, equipping and establishing youth to be leaders on solutions for nature & climate together globally, with regional and local nuance. 

When youth are provided with opportunities to develop their capabilities & knowledge on the climate-nature nexus; when we are given a space to meaningfully engage and share our stories and actions; and when our voices are valued in decision-making spaces as leaders within our local communities and on a global stage, the world is given a chance to fundamentally reimagine what a green, regenerative, sustainable and inclusive future might look like, where communities thrive with nature across generations.

As current and future leaders, we should be able to co-design our own future with decision-makers.

In the search for solutions to the climate crisis, decision-makers, civil society and political leaders cannot forget young people, they cannot forget frontline and marginalized communities, and they cannot forget nature. Y4N aims to break down silos and collaboratively bridge the broader network of climate and biodiversity youth organisations through knowledge-sharing, storytelling, and capacity building to address both of these issues together.