South Asian Youth Meet on climate change concludes

NEPAL: A four-day South Asian Youth Summit on Climate Change concluded in Nepal on Sunday, making a five-point commitment and dishing out a 10-point demand, local newspaper The Kathmandu Post reported on Monday.

The 80 participants promised to form a youth network for uniting grassroot and country-level movements across south Asia. They plan to organize follow-up events, sensitize the society and create generations of youth committed to a low carbon life.

The participants demanded that south Asian governments agree on the Most Vulnerable Countries/ Alliance of Small Island States stance that temperature increase should be limited to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and CO2 concentration should be brought back to below 350 parts per million (ppm). They urged the Annex 1 parties to commit to reduce emission by 45 percent by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050 with base year 1990 and emission peaking no later than 2015.

They demanded the need for the establishment of a party-funded south Asian regional center. Such a center is to facilitate research, scientific development, economic diversification and inclusion of youth representative in the official delegation to climate change negotiations, especially as a constituency to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks.

According to Manjit Dhakal, summit coordinator, this summit has made a South Asian Youth Network. Dhakal said, "We believe it will be more effective if the government makes a push for these issues. "

Kathmandu, Monday, Xinhua