News Excerpt:

At the ReWired Summit at COP28 Dubai on December 8th, 2023, the official launch of Green Rising took place.

About: 

• UNICEF's Generation Unlimited, in collaboration with India's Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), introduced the "Green Rising" initiative which aims to empower youth-led climate actions and solutions.
• UNICEF and its global partnerships platform Generation Unlimited (also known as YuWaah in India) have partnered with key organizations committed to working towards a green future for children and young people as a part of the Green Rising India Alliance (GRIA).

• Through India's YuWaah campaign, the focus is on engaging youth in impactful environmental actions at the grassroots level, inspired by the Mission LiFE movement. 
• The Union Minister of MoEFCC highlighted the importance of youth in achieving a sustainable world, urged joint initiatives to build youth capacity as future climate leaders and also emphasized the significance of green jobs.
• The minister also highlighted: 
• India's National Mission for Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change, under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)- focuses on creating awareness among students and youths. 
• NAPCC was released on 30th June 2008. 
• It outlines a national strategy that aims to enable the country to adapt to climate change and enhance the ecological sustainability of India‘s development path.
• Green Skills Development Programme- 
• Initiative for skill development in the environment and forest sector to enable India's youth to get gainful employment and/or self-employment,
• Green Credits Initiative- encourages global collaboration for pro-planet actions. 
• The programme launched by the MoEFCC incentivizes environmental actions by offering green credits for projects that help the environment in any way. This alternative market-based mechanism prioritizes public participation for different kinds of environment-positive actions, not just for carbon emission reductions.
• The Green Rising initiative aims to unite leaders across sectors at COP28, spotlighting commitments to integrate children and youth as partners, influencing policymakers toward a more youth-centered perspective, and encouraging organizations to contribute resources and expertise.
• Green Rising is also supported by the Green Jobs for Youth Pact – a joint effort by UNICEF, ILO, and UNEP, alongside private sector contributors, launched at COP27 to work towards creating 1 million new green jobs, greening 1 million jobs, and supporting 10,000 green entrepreneurs by 2030.  
• Over the next three years (2023-2025), the Green Rising initiative will create pathways for at least 10 million children and youth in developing countries, mobilizing them for grassroots action, green skills building, jobs, and entrepreneurship. 
• These young champions can collectively deliver concrete environmental impact and catalyze systems-level change.

About UNICEF: 

• The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), originally known as the “United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund”, was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children and mothers in countries that had been devastated by World War II. 
• In 1950, UNICEF's mandate was extended to address the long-term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere. 
• In 1953, it became a permanent part of the United Nations System, and the words "international" and "emergency" were dropped from the organization's name, though it retained the original acronym, "UNICEF".

About Generation Unlimited:

• Launched by the UN Secretary-General at the 2018 UN General Assembly.
• It is a leading global Public-Private-Youth Partnership on a mission to skill and connect the world’s 1.8 billion young people to opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact.