Arab Youth To Participate In Climate Change Demonstrations

Article written by guest writer Kecia Lynn

What’s the Latest Development?

On Saturday, young people from across the Arab world will demonstrate in over a dozen countries to call attention to the need for progressive climate change regulation. The marches will take place a few weeks ahead of the 2012 UN Climate Change Conference, which for the first time will be held in a Middle East country, Qatar. They are being coordinated by the Arab Youth Climate Movement, a group that was created with the support of several environmental activist organizations.

What’s the Big Idea?

Writer Kelly Rigg says that given all the other challenges that young people have faced in the Middle East and North Africa over the past two years, the very existence of this movement “sends a powerful message to leaders not only in the region, but worldwide: tackling climate change is a priority.” Their countries’ governments have tended to obstruct measures designed to address the problem, but Rigg is hopeful: “Just think what could happen if the winds of change sweeping the Arab region were to collide with the slow-moving front which is the international climate negotiations.”

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