ISS Students Explore Governance and Diplomacy in Geneva

As part of the 4EU+ project, 'Youth, Governance and Social Justice in Environmental Transition', led by our colleague, Dr Eva Soares Moura, a team of ISS students participated in a three-day research trip to Geneva. The students prepared photovoice materials and presented their perspectives at the Laboratory for Youth Climate Imagination workshop at the University of Geneva. They also met Master's and PhD students, as well as experts from the Institute for Environmental Sciences and the Geneva Science-Policy Interface. During these meetings, they discussed youth representation and science-policy collaboration. The programme also included a meeting with attachés from the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, who provided insights into the negotiation of human rights and climate-related agendas in international diplomacy. The group was also invited to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), where they attended the presentation of the newly approved WMO Youth Action Plan. This provided them with an insight into how young people are being integrated into global climate policies.  The visit wrapped up at a UN conference on climate change and sustainable development, where the students got a taste of what it feels like to sit at the international negotiating table. A report on the visit, written by one of the students, will be published soon, so stay tuned! We hope that the ideas gathered in international Geneva will inform future projects in which young people and their voices will play a central role.