The International Forum "Children and Youth in action — Climate change in Central Asia" was held in Tashkent

November 9 at Tashkent hosted the International Forum "Children and Youth in Action — Climate Change in Central Asia". The Forum is timed to World Children's Day and the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 and is dedicated to recognizing the role of children and youth in combating the negative effects of climate change, including through the promotion of environmental education.

The event, chaired by the wife of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Ziroat Mirziyoyeva, was attended by the First Ladies of Turkey Emine Erdogan, Kyrgyzstan Aigul Zhaparova and Iran Jamile Alamulhudo, representatives of the governments of the ECO member countries - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, as well as representatives of UNICEF, heads of UN agencies and youth.

The Republic of Kazakhstan was represented by the Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, who during her speech noted that the work of the Forum would give a new impetus to cooperation in solving environmental problems in the region and proposed several important initiatives, such as the development and promotion of cooperation in the exchange of experience, seminars, training courses and regional actions in environmental protection; on an ongoing basis, jointly carry out such actions as "World Day without a Car", "Earth Hour" and so on.

In turn, at the Forum, children and youth appealed to governments and society to begin concrete actions to address the problems associated with climate change.

As a result of the event, a Regional strategy was signed to promote a culture of sustainable development and involve children and youth in the climate agenda. The document includes recommendations on environmental education.

Actions to prevent environmental problems taken at different levels — global, regional and national - were also discussed.

The forum participants stressed the importance of using information technologies in the learning process, as well as the fact that eco-education should be inclusive — accessible and understandable to everyone. Eco-activists from Central Asian countries also highlighted the right of children to participate in the development of policies and programs, as well as in monitoring and evaluating the progress of measures taken to combat climate change.