Introduction

Fifty-six youth from nine APEC member economies participated in this meeting of four days. The youth caucus was developed to create awareness amongst young people regarding the need for their own engagement on a political level in international trade, global resource development and information sharing. This youth gathering was designed to examine youth participation in the APEC Environment portfolio and particularly its strategy in implementing specific actions for sustainable development.

Several months prior to the Ministerial meeting, an internet based electronic conference between participating schools, groups and individuals was launched to begin researching and discussing the issues surrounding the primary themes of the youth caucus. The web chats and discussion forums provided a common background for participants and familiarized them with the format of the youth caucus.

Six of the participants were specifically selected to act as youth journalists. Through the internet, live radio programming and press releases, these youth journalists covered all aspects of the youth caucus and the ministerial meeting and showcased the work of the young leaders in attendance.

 

Summary of Key Themes

The four central themes of the youth caucus were

• identifying the role of youth in sustainable development
• engaging individual action
• encouraging government and business to invest in sustainability
• sharing and applying knowledge on sustainability

 

The delegates were asked to formally present information on these themes based on their local experience, research and knowledge. The delegates drafted and negotiated consensus recommendations that were presented by caucus members to the APEC Environment Ministers.

 

Summary of Recommendations

Participation of youth as primary stake holders is integral to creating a sustainable trade environment for the future. APEC's approach to consultation should be inclusive of businesses, groups and organizations that are responsible for implementing its policy decisions as much as possible.

 

Economic incentives (eco-bonuses) should be developed to support environmentally sustainable initiatives and research. These initiatives should have a quantifiable impact on the local, national and international environmental sustainability indicators APEC has identified.

 

Information regarding environmental successes and failures should be shared amongst APEC economies regarding the implementation of its sustainable trade policies. This information should feature small medium and large scale initiatives and serve to demonstrate that APEC Environment Ministers are achieving their stated goals.

 

APEC should make full use of communications technology and media to develop awareness of the importance of sustainable trade and its mutual benefits on local economies and peoples. Through such networks, interactive education and model-sharing would be possible as well as giving individuals and groups a better understanding of the APEC Environment Ministers priorities and agenda.

 

APEC should recommit to investigating and sharing information on viable alternatives for sustainable development with respect to trade. To facilitate this process, further consideration should be given to creating a formalized means for communicating with groups and organizations that could advise, test and consult on environmental trade issues. This focus on partnership and collaboration would allow APEC economies to access a forum for information sharing with respect to economic and environmental alternatives for sustainable trade.

 

While the APEC Environment Ministers focused on urban areas or "sustainable cities", youth caucus members discussed sustainable communities with a localized perspective. Integration of the local perspective and thinking into the international playing field fostered better results when generating consensus recommendations for the youth caucus. Delegates suggested that the focus needs to be on maximizing the use of locally available resources to protect all life forms and establish well-being on a long term basis.

 

The delegates used experiential learning methods to gain a better understanding of the local impact of global trade and environmental policy. From this approach to information sharing, it was decided that individual engagement is crucial to affecting change in behaviour, in group decision-making. The recommendation that APEC Environment Ministers endeavour to make environmental trade issues individually relevant to nationals of all member economies grew from the "paperless" meeting experience.

 

Youth living in APEC's member economies need to be meaningfully involved in policy discussions. Caucus members also maintained that they need to be better informed. To this end, the youth caucus suggested that a youth forum be established whereby young people representing academia, grassroots initiatives, non-governmental organizations and the environmental business sector from all 18 member economies would consult on APEC environmental issues and communicate these issues to other youth by publishing their work and covering APEC's environment-related issues from a youth perspective.

The youth caucus suggested that this forum be internet based and supported by the APEC Environment Ministers as a working group project, rather than as an initiative of one individual economy.

 

III. Conclusion

 

"As youth we are concerned about the environment and the impact of trade on it. We are concerned about endangered people, animals and ways of life. Our concern is with protecting the Earth and managing prosperity for all life forms. We believe that these are not mutually exclusive. We have looked at what a sustainable community is to us and have applied a scale model of trade and environmental balance to this international forum. As youth we have taken action in our communities and have taken the first step to achieving a common vision, and are ready to have a voice... the time for action is NOW therefore the time for youth involvement is now."

Concluding Statement, Youth Caucus Presentation

 

 

To date, members of the APEC Environment Youth Caucus have created an e-mail based network so that they can stay up to date on APEC's environment portfolio and keep the vision of youth engagement alive. This is only the first step for youth involvement in APEC's Environment sector and should necessarily lead to more opportunities for youth to exchange ideas, broaden perspectives and gain the experience that will contribute to a APEC's environmental policy.

 

As evident from the tangible recommendations that the youth generated and the broad perspectives that were integrated in the youth presentation, young people are ready to be involved. Youth caucus members challenge APEC to meaningfully engage youth at every step in the policy and decision-making process.

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