SAIIA YOUTH POLICY COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON COP 21

The SAIIA Youth Policy Committee (YPC) advocates for a legally binding agreement at COP21 that emphasizes high ambition, the integration of adaptation and mitigation, and predictable finance for developing countries. The YPC calls for the inclusion of an adaptation goal in the Paris agreement, the use of indigenous knowledge in local strategies, and the implementation of 'no regret' and flexible adaptation strategies. It further argues that developed countries must fund these efforts and that climate change should be integrated into school curricula to maintain youth commitment.

• The YPC supports a legally binding agreement at COP21 and urges states to implement an ambitious pre-2020 plan of action to bridge the gap between the conference and the post-2020 agreement.
• The committee argues that an adaptation goal must be part of the final Paris agreement, emphasizing that local communities and indigenous knowledge should be central to these strategies, which should be enforced from national policies down to district municipalities.
• To improve the robustness of adaptation, the YPC proposes four types of practical solutions: 'no regret' strategies that provide benefits regardless of climate change, reversible strategies to minimize costs of incorrect predictions, safety margin strategies to reduce vulnerability at low cost, and short-term 'copying strategies' that complement long-term plans.
• The YPC calls for the simultaneous implementation of bottom-up adaptation and mitigation strategies, noting that developed countries should fund these efforts and that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be integrated into climate policy.
• Regarding finance, the YPC demands greater predictability of climate finance for developing countries and argues that developed countries, as large contributors to climate change, should be encouraged or forced to increase payments to climate funds.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2015). SAIIA YOUTH POLICY COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON COP 21. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SAIIA-Youth-Policy-Committee-COP21-Statement.pdf

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. SAIIA YOUTH POLICY COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON COP 21. 2015. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SAIIA-Youth-Policy-Committee-COP21-Statement.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=SAIIA YOUTH POLICY COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON COP 21 |date=25 November 2015 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SAIIA-Youth-Policy-Committee-COP21-Statement.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2015saiia, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{SAIIA YOUTH POLICY COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON COP 21}}, publisher = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SAIIA-Youth-Policy-Committee-COP21-Statement.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }