African climate negotiators have called for stronger youth participation in climate diplomacy to help shape policy responses to the continent’s growing climate challenges.
Young people must move beyond attending climate conferences and contribute meaningfully to climate policy development and international negotiations, they said.
Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on Climate Change, made the call at the Regional Conference of Youth (RCOY) Africa 2026 in Accra on the theme: “Driving Integrated Solutions Across Africa’s Climate Agenda for Impact, Resilience and Justice.”
He said young Africans had demonstrated their ability to undertake research, mobilise communities and develop innovative climate solutions, but needed greater influence in policy and decision-making processes.
“The objective is not simply to have more young people present in climate diplomacy, but to strengthen their capacity to contribute to the substance of the decisions being made,” he said.
Dr Amoah said young people were already contributing to critical issues such as renewable energy, adaptation, climate finance, environmental governance, and loss and damage.
He encouraged them to deepen their understanding of international climate negotiations, study negotiating texts, produce credible research and foster constructive engagement with policymakers.
Dr Amoah said governments and institutions also had a responsibility to remain open to the knowledge, concerns and proposals of younger generations.
He said climate change continued to affect key sectors of Africa’s development, including food security, water resources, energy access, public health and livelihoods, requiring coordinated action at international, national and community levels.
Dr Amoah said the AGN remained focused on advancing Africa’s collective interests under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with priorities including adaptation and resilience, climate finance, loss and damage, technology transfer and a just energy transition.
He said those priorities were interconnected and required predictable financing, appropriate technologies and stronger implementation capacity at national and community levels.
African countries, he said, required adequate international support to pursue development objectives while responding to a climate crisis to which they had contributed relatively little.
Dr Amoah said sustained coordination and clear priorities would be essential as African countries prepared for the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UNFCCC in Antalya, Türkiye.
He urged participants to develop practical recommendations to inform national climate policies, strengthen engagement with African negotiators and contribute to discussions ahead of COP31.
GNA