AICBR is gearing up to host the next iteration of our youth training as part of the Yukon Indigenous Community Climate Change Champions (YIC4) Project. This training will welcome 24 First Nations youth (aged 16-30yrs) from communities across the territory to Whitehorse, January 21st-24th, 2019. Elders, scientists and experts from across Canada will guide youth in exploring the climate change crisis from both Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing and how we, as northern communities can adapt. The youth are to become champions for community-based action on climate change and will develop key skills in the areas of communications, advocacy, research, and leadership.
DETAILS:
Dates: January 21st - 24th, 2019
Location: Fireside Room, Yukon Inn, Whitehorse
Registration Required
Contact: Julia@aicbr.ca for more details (867-668-3393)
Yukon is one of the most rapidly warming regions, experiencing warming of two-times the rate felt by the rest of the world. Indigenous peoples across the North face serious, imminent threats from this global trend. The effects of climate change are real and are already being felt across the globe; these threats include (but are not limited to) increased wildfires near communities without emergency management plans, damaged infrastructure due to melting permafrost, diminished ice and snow cover, melting glaciers and disappearing lakes, and changing caribou (among other key species) migration patterns, which reduce access to traditional foods and alter ways of life.
The Yukon Indigenous Communities Climate Change Champions (YIC4) project recognizes that the youth of today will be facing the greatest impacts from the global climate crisis and require urgent education and leadership training in order to adapt to the complex challenges they face. Since the first training session, which was held November 2017 (read the newsletter here), YIC4 youth have been supported in conducting a community assessment to better understand impacts, needs, and opportunities for climate change adaptation and mitigation in their communities. These same youth, in addition to a new cohort, will come back together in the new year to build from these assessments, further their knowledge of the current issues and develop key leadership and research skills for adaptation/mitigation project planning and to mobilize knowledge for action.
Learn more about the project (current outcomes, partners & funders): www.aicbr.ca/yic4
For media inquiries, please contact Norma at norma@aicbr.ca