The Right of Children and Youth to a Healthy Environment: Building an Agenda for Justice, Equity and Empowerment
From December 2020 -July 2021, over 200 children, young people, activists, technical experts and policy makers convened for an intergenerational consultation on the right of children and young people to a healthy environment for the North American region, also known as the Phoenix Consultation.
The consultation took place in three phases: 1) Child and Youth Grassroots and Digital Consultations, 2) Intergenerational Consultation Virtual Workshop and 3) Advocacy and Coalition Building. A key result of the consultation is The Story of the Phoenix Consultation report, a framework for advocacy on children’s environmental rights in North America that includes 5 key recommendations and the youth-produced Phoenix Manifesto for policy-makers.
The Phoenix Consultation is a part of CERI’s series of regional consultations with children and young people across the world helping to build a Global Charter on Children’s Rights, the Environment and Climate Change, a set of key guiding principles on children’s rights and the environment for States and other stakeholders.
Children’s Environmental Rights in North America
Environmental degradation and the causes and effects of the climate crisis – from deforestation, to air pollution, to the heat waves that recently struck the Pacific Northwest, to name a few – strip away children and youth’s right to a healthy environment, impacting their rights to health, food, water, housing, education, protection and even life. Children and young people need to be involved in environmental decision-making as it is our basic human rights and futures that will suffer the consequences of inaction on climate change today.
— Trisha-mae Capistrano, 18-year-old Canadian Student Activist
Meet the team
Steering Committee
Intergenerational Advisory Committee
The Intergenerational Advisory Committee is responsible for helping to shape and oversee the North American consultation.
Academic Community of Practice
A coalition of leading academics and researchers across disciplines to conduct grassroots consultations with children and young people in North America on children’s right to a healthy environment.
-
Natasha Blanchet-Cohen, Co-Chair Youth Research Network Quebec, Department of Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University
-
Tara M. Collins, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director, School of Child and Youth Care, Ryerson University, Canada; & Honorary Associate Professor, Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
-
Philip Cook, Associate, International Institute for Child Rights and Development
-
Yolanda Corona, PhD., Autonomous Metropolitan University- Xochimilco
-
Dr. Victoria Derr, Associate Professor, Applied Environmental Science, California State University, Monterey Bay, USA
-
Geneviève Grégoire-Labrecque, PhD candidate and member of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, Concordia University
-
Catherine Howe, M.A. , R.P., Child and Youth Practitioner,
-
Maritza Islas, Fabio Arturo López Alfaro (earth sciences and space sciences) and Red Universitaria de Cambio Climático
-
Pamela Robles Jara, Psychologist, Ecolescencias Collective, Mexico
-
Albert Lalonde, Climate Justice Organizer at CEVES and Youth Contractor with the David Suzuki Foundation
-
Alejandra Santaella Landa, Psychologist, Ecolescencias Collective
-
Dr. Kathleen Manion, Associate Professor, Royal Roads University
-
Karla Odet Morales Lara, Psychologist and Researcher from the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Ecolescencias Collective, and The Childhood Program from the Metropolitan Autonomous University Xochimilco
-
Dr. Yolanda Muñoz, Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Research Programme (DICARP), McGill University
-
Ana Bernardette Garnier Navarro, Social communicator
-
Sally Neas, Doctoral candidate, University of California at Davis
-
Rebeccah Nelems, Associate Faculty, School of Leadership Studies, Royal Roads University and Associate, International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD)
-
Martha Pitre, B.A. Hons. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mount Allison University
-
Carolyn Rakka – BA in Justice Studies, RRU; Research Assistant, School of Humanitarian Studies, Royal Roads University
-
Rubén Darío Martínez Ramírez, (communication and philosophy) and Red Universitaria de Cambio Climático
-
Todd Weber, Co-Leader, Elders Climate Action (ECA) NorCal Chapter
Partners
Sponsors
