40 children between the ages of 10-18 living in Izmir came together at the Izmir Children's Climate Forum held in the Historical Bıçakçı Han, hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. The forum, conducted by the Social Climate Association, supported by UNICEF Türkiye's European Union co-financed ACAR Project, and held in cooperation with the Turkish Healthy Cities Association, was designed as a participatory space where children will discuss the effects of the climate crisis on their cities from their own perspectives and develop concrete policy proposals. Izmir Children's Climate Forum formed the Izmir leg of the "Children's Voice for Climate" project, which was implemented under the leadership of the Social Climate Association. Within the scope of the project, Children's Climate Forums will be held in Ankara, Gaziantep and Istanbul after Izmir. Among the stakeholder municipalities of the project were Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Konak Municipality and Bornova Municipality. At the end of the day's work, the participating children prepared a Declaration of Children's Climate Demands, based on the priorities they determined and signed by the participants. The declaration will be officially presented to the authorities of the forum's stakeholder municipalities and will then be conveyed to the authorities at the COP31 Climate Change Conference, which Turkey will host this year.
“WE WILL SEND YOUR IDEAS”
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Prof. attended the forum and met with the children. Dr. Pınar Okyay gave an interactive speech. Asking children questions about the climate crisis, Okyay said, "You are in the age of growth. It is your greatest right to have access to healthy food. But when there is a food crisis, is everyone affected equally? We call this 'climate justice' and the concept of climate justice is very important. In your studies, think about how the climate will affect children in different groups, especially children in different economic situations. I am very curious about your ideas. Many words, ideas and priorities will come from you in this forum. Now the word is yours. We will take them to the United Nations COP31 Climate Change Conference." "We will take them and convey your priorities to them," he said.
“TODAY YOU HAVE THE SPEAK”
Gökçe Başkaya, Secretary General of the Turkish Healthy Cities Association, said, "As the Turkish Healthy Cities Association, we are the organization that represents the World Health Organization in Turkey. The World Health Organization defines a healthy city as a place where people can live safely and have access to clean air, water, nature and healthy living conditions. As the Turkish Healthy Cities Association, we believe that health begins in the neighborhoods, streets, parks and schools we live in, before health services, hospitals and hospital services. The World Health Organization defines children as 'Healthy cities for healthy generations'." "With its work, we aim for children to grow up in cities that are healthy, safe and compatible with nature. In line with this vision, we are organizing this forum today. We want to shape the cities where healthy generations will grow, together with the experiences and ideas of children," he said.
“WE WANT TO TRANSFER YOUR REQUESTS”
Gaye Tuğrulöz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Social Climate Association, said, "In the Voice of Children for Climate project, children from different regions and cities of Turkey come together to talk about the nature, environment and climate issues in their cities and express their demands to the municipal representatives working for them in the city. From here, we will take your words to the COP31 Climate Change Conference, which Turkey will host this year. We want to convey your demands to them. I would like to thank the European Union and UNICEF for supporting and financing this process, but this is done locally by the Healthy Cities Association." "If we had not come together with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Konak Municipality and Bornova Municipality, it would have been impossible to carry this out, so I would like to thank each and every institution for their support," he said.
Within the scope of the forum, "Fighting the Climate Crisis: What Can We Do for Our World?" A session titled: Later, the children produced ideas in thematic group studies and prepared the Declaration of Children's Climate Demands.
