Climate Changemakers – Digital Innovation for Youth Climate Action

September 8th & 9th, 2022, 10.00 AM – 5.00 PM EDT

United Nations Headquarters New York, Conference Room 11, New York City

with live and on-demand broadcast on UN WebTV

DigitalArt4Climate Exhibition, UN Conference Building, 1st floor, Curved Wall, Sept. 6 – 16th 

Organizer:

Partners:

Event Objectives: 

Presentation of existing and planned digital tools/solutions for youth focused local SDG action and climate action empowerment and formation of a #Digital4Youth multi-stakeholder partnership for the collaborative development of the necessary global technological infrastructure/ecosystem (digital identity management, youth climate action reporting framework, digital measurement-reporting-verification, crowd-evaluation, global challenges action registry; (NFT) marketplace, participatory multilevel governance tools, digital finance, metaverse/VR/AR solutions, data collection/citizen science, education, gamification, ….) for effective youth engagement and empowerment in local SDGs implementation.

The event as well as the partnership aim for strong alignment with relevant UN system efforts like

Background:

The Climate Changemakers: Digital Innovation for Youth Climate Action Conference and Exhibition is a joint initiative of the Climate Changemaker initiative, a programme of UNEP supported by the Government of Lanzarote, Spain, IAAI Glocha, the Turkish Municipality of Bahcelievler and UN-Habitat. 

This event serves as a space to spotlight the unique and innovative ways for youth led creativity and entrepreneurship to spur global and local change and to highlight the enabling role of digital innovation for the localization of the SDGs. This is also a space for networking, partnerships, and idea sharing for innovative solutions related to inclusive governance and youth-led SDG localization. The Conference will include a week-long DigitalArt4Climate exhibition, a 2-day conference, and a reception.

Initiatives such as Climate Changemakers, the UN World Environment Situation room and DigitalArt4Climate will be the centerpiece of the conference. Youth participants and award winners will also be present at the conference to share their experiences and new innovative technologies. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are essential to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 which is why this space has been created to exhibit technological innovations and exchange ideas for sustainable solution-making that puts youth at the forefront and amplifies their voice for change.

Agenda:

8 Sept – 10.00-11.00 Welcome Session and Thematic Introduction

Moderator: Taylor Garner, UN Habitat Youth 2030 Cities

Organisers/Partners:

Thematic introductions:

UN WebTV Video on demand from the Welcome and Thematic introductions sessions

11.00-13.00 – Youth SDG action reporting  & climate entrepreneurship session

Moderator: Ari Eisenstat, Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies

  • John Crowley, PHGD Group & Former Director of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformation Programme – Youth Climate Action Empowerment – The Role of Knowledge, Data and Incentives 
  • Navroop k. Sahdev, Digital Economist
  • Timothy Damon, Global Youth Development Institute – Resource mobilization for youth climate action – Challenges and Opportunities
  • Miroslav Polzer – IAAI GloCha digital solutions for youth climate action empowerment
  • Tadej Slapnik, Harnessing the potentials of blockchain technology for SDGs focused social entrepreneurship – Experiences and Initiatives from Slovenia (virtual) 
  • Joao Pita Costa, International AI Research Center (IRCAI), Ljubljana – AI for SDG Action (virtual)

8 Sept – 14.00-15.30 – Blockchain4Climate session

Moderator: Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha & Climate Chain Coalition & Intro “From the MENA Climate Week  Blockchain4Climate session to COP28” 

UN WebTV Video on demand from the Blockchain4Climate and DigitalArt4Climate sessions

8 Sept – 15.30-17.00
DigitalArt4Climate session

Moderator: Zephanii Smith Eisenstat

8 Sept – 18.15 – 20.00
DigitalArt4Climate Exhibition event &  Reception powered by ArtsHelp
(Fun, inspiration, visibility and networking), Curved Wall space, UN HQ Conf building 1st fl.

9 Sept – 10.00-11.30
Climate Changemakers session

Moderator: Miroslav Polzer, IAAI GloCha

Speakers:

UN WebTV Video on demand from the Climate Changemakers & Resource Mobilization sessions

9 Sept – 11.30-13.00
Resource Mobilization for Action for Climate Empowerment Session 

Presentation of DigitalArt4Climate (Youth) Action for Climate Empowerment Resource Mobilization  Programmes:

  • for a Youth Climate Action Fund
  • for setting up Youth Climate Action Hubs (incl. satellite based internet access modules where needed) with pilot sites in Africa
  • for the digitalization of UNFCCC Archives
  • for Youth/Citizen Climate Action Reporting, Certification and Registration tools and socio-technical infrastructure

Speakers:

9 Sept – 14.00-15.30
International Youth Conference IYC session

  • Michelle Silveira – Lemonade.social: From youth events to youth impact events with digital innovation
  • Faatiha Ayat, youth perspectives on UN climate conferences and global cooperation

Moderator: Ali Mustafa, IYC, GloCha & AFS (Presentation of IYC 6 Conference, Sept 2022 & World Climate Action day initiative & Pre-announcement of IYC7 2023 in San Francisco on youth & digital innovation & partners)

Speakers (to be confirmed):

  • Zoya Dhakam, Columbia University/SIPA, UN DGC youth delegates programme 
  • Enes Guven, Boston Education and Counseling, IYC & IAAI UN delegate
  • Alejandra Giraldo

9 Sept – 15.30-16.30 – Plans and Initiatives for COP27 and COP28 session

Thematic intro:

  • Hoda Saad Abdelhaleem, IAAI GloCha team member in Egypt – Civil Society in Egypt as partner of the global community in the context of COP27
  • Miroslav Polzer – presentation of IAAI GloCha COP27 plans (DigitalArt4Climate COP27 Art Competition presentation, Side event “Digital Innovation & Resource Mobilization Innovation for Inclusive Action for Climate Empowerment”, DigitalArt4Climate & DigitalInnovation4Climate pavilion, Individual SDG Wheel NFT minting & onsite Global Challenges ID (with NFT & NFC) printing, ..)
  • presentation of COP27 plans by other conference participants
  • discussion

9 Sept – 16.30-17.00 – Closing Session

DigitalArt4Climate Exhibition:

The art exhibition will take place in the curved-wall exhibition space at the United Nations Headquarters in New York preceding the opening of the  General Assembly from September 6th to the 9th. Participants and invitees will be able to see and interact with digital art such as the DigitalArt4Climate award winners from COP 26 in Glasgow on TVs projecting a walk-through through the DigitalArt4Climate virtual gallery and learn about the concept and tools of this innovative youth climate action empowerment initiative. Among 208 artworks from 58 countries the the DigitalArt4Climate competition selected 30 creations with a great level of art skills and unique ideas about the Climate Action which will be sold on the DigitalArt4Climate marketplace as CleanNFTs for resource mobilization in support of Sustainable Development Goals and UN Agenda 2030 implementation. 

Announcement: DigitalArt4Climate COP27 Call for Submissions open

https://climatechrun.com/en/digital-artists/

https://digitalart4climate.space/cop27artcompetition

Contact: dr. Miroslav Polzer, executive director of the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges, polzer@glocha.info