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Toward transformative youth climate justice: Why youth agency is important and six critical areas for transformative youth activism, policy, and research

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  • Ralph Tafon
  • Fred Saunders

Abstract

The involvement of youth in climate actions is increasingly recognized as critical to a more just and sustainable future. Despite progress in youth climate justice (CJ) activism, research and decision-making, gaps and challenges persist. Drawing on existing literature, first, we identify three key reasons for authorities to take youth involvement in climate actions seriously, namely (a) human rights and justice, (b) efficiency, and (c) legitimacy of policy actions. Second, we propose six critical areas for policy, research, and the youth movement to deliver transformative youth CJ: (1) closing the climate finance (i.e., adaptation and loss and damage) gap in a way that prioritizes youth-responsive activities, especially in climate impact-prone regions of the world; (2) adopting an intersectional approach to CJ that challenges homogenization of the youth CJ movement, accounts for the diverse experiences, needs and perspectives of different youth, and addresses intersecting structural forms of discrimination that particularly hamper the agency of racialized youth in the global South and North; (3) youth must recast their justice frameworks and channel their activism mode (e.g., buycott) toward challenging and resisting green extractivism, the necropolitical and ecocidal effects of which are concentrated in post-colonies and other racialized contexts; (4) knowledge co-production with youth must confront the risk of knowledge coloniality, extraction and power; (5) youth should engage in more-than-human CJ activism, recognizing the intertwined fate of youth and more-than-human nature; (6) as legitimate representatives of future generations, youth should consider claiming their space in legislative arenas to ensure the protection of future generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ralph Tafon & Fred Saunders, 2025. "Toward transformative youth climate justice: Why youth agency is important and six critical areas for transformative youth activism, policy, and research," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(4), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pclm00:0000472
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000472
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Corrie Grosse, 2019. "Climate Justice Movement Building: Values and Cultures of Creation in Santa Barbara, California," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Heejin Han & Sang Wuk Ahn, 2020. "Youth Mobilization to Stop Global Climate Change: Narratives and Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, May.
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