Registration open for UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY16)

Maldivian students skipped school for climate change strike 2019 | Photo: Maldives Independent

United Nations —The UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY) has opened registration for COY16 that is scheduled to be held this year.

COY is an event under the banner of YOUNGO – The Official Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which helps to prepare young people for their participation at Conference of the Parties (COP), also known as the annual UN Climate Change Conference.

For the 2021 conference, COY is in its 16th year and dubbed as the largest and longest running youth event to date which will be gathering thousands of young changemakers from more than 140 countries. 

COY has four major components. They are:

  1. Policy Document: The most substantial output for COY16 is coming up with the position paper, or policy document, that will represent the voice of the youth in the UN Climate Negotiations (COP26).
  2. Capacity Building: Delegates from 140+ countries will undergo a series of plenary and breakout sessions, with topics on how climate change affects different sectors and industries.
  3. Skill-building Workshops: COY16 will provide workshops for delegates such as pitching, fundraising, event management, youth mobilization and public speaking.
  4. Cultural Exchange: Our social events and networking activities will be designed to be interactive and immersive, to explore the different cultures of our delegates.

For those who are interested in taking part in COY16, they are advised to preregister at the CLOY webiste which will help to create the final registration process in selecting the delegates for COY16. Although it is not the final registration, CLOY noted that filling the preregistration form will help in placing the members in the mailing list for the official registration form once the organization starts the process.