Two young Seychellois at climate change event in Milan |20 July 2021

Victoria Alis (photo left) and Jeremy Raguain

Two young Seychellois ‒ Victoria Alis and Jeremy Raguain ‒ will be representing Seychelles at the ‘Y4Climate: Driving Ambition’ special event expected to take place in Milan, Italy from September 28-30, 2021.

The youth event is being held ahead of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is taking place from October 31 to November 12, 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

In the run-up to this special event, the Italian ministry of environment, in collaboration with Connect4Climate, World Bank Group and the office of the Secretary General's Envoy on Youth, launched the programme of virtual and interactive meetings addressed to young people around the world. The webinars programme was entitled ‘Youth4Climate Live Series: Driving Momentum Towards Pre-COP 26’.

Following the webinars, almost 400 young people aged between 18 and 29 years old from the 197 member countries of the UNFCCC have been selected to meet in person in Milan.

Ms Alis, who is currently a member of various non-governmental organisations (NGO), has taken part in various climate change-related activities throughout her work. As for Mr Raguain, he currently works for the Seychelles Islands Foundation and is involved in various climate change-related activities as well.

Mr Raguain also represented Seychelles at the Climate Action Youth Summit in 2019 and this will be the second time he officially represents the country at such an important event.

Before their departure to Milan, the two young climate activists are planning a three-day Seychelles Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) event to take place from September 2-4, 2021 as a preparation for the international event.

The LCOY will help build the understanding of the climate crisis to about 150 youth and engage them with their government and other stakeholders.

Ms Alis and Mr Raguain gave their insights on the upcoming Y4C event.

“I feel that my past and ongoing work in relation to climate change will allow me to bring my country’s needs to Milan and far beyond. Even though I am disappointed with the global climate leaders as we see more massive heatwaves and several fossil fuel disasters, I believe that the Y4C event will be a way to raise awareness on the climate crisis. The event will produce key position statements on how young people are and can drive climate ambition, determine the criteria for a sustainable recovery, enable the engagement of non-state actors and build a climate-conscious society, but also provide key insights ahead of COP26 so as to hold leaders accountable. Ultimately, I am proud to be representing my country and hope that my efforts lead to something meaningful for Seychelles when I return,” said Mr Raguain.

Ms Alis said: “Being selected to represent Seychelles youth at the Y4C event is an absolute privilege and a great opportunity to raise young Seychellois’ climate concerns, solutions and priority areas on an international scene. At the same time, I will learn from the remarkable global climate activists who will be present at the event. Taking on this responsibility will demand a fair amount of preparation but I realise that this event will raise additional pressure on global political leaders in taking action to meet Paris Agreement goals in the targeted timeframe and help keep them accountable for their false promises and inaction. I think this will be a great networking opportunity for country’s representatives to build collaborations and partnerships, to integrate new ideas and tools into the climate-related work back home.”

The event will be part of the process to actively involve more young people in climate change and will offer them the opportunity to develop concrete proposals for the pre-COP26 taking place in Milan and the 26th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) of the UNFCCC, happening from October 31 to November 12, 2021 in Glasgow.

The first two days will be dedicated to working groups, while the last day will focus on discussion between the young delegates and the ministers attending the Pre-COP26 event.

Press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment