Institute for Health Transformation, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, 1 Geringhap Street, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia.
Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Jul 12;24(1):1869. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19406-9.
The climate crisis is a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of children, young people, and future generations. While there are calls for children and young people's engagement in climate decision making, current power structures limit their participation. This paper aimed to understand children's perspectives about the impact of the climate crisis on their futures, their ability to influence climate decisions, and strategies and mechanisms to facilitate their greater engagement in decisions made about the climate crisis.
Online in-depth interviews were conducted with n = 28 children (aged 12-16 years) across Australia. Photo elicitation techniques were used to prompt discussion about how the climate crisis impacted their futures, their ability to influence climate decisions, and strategies and mechanisms to engage them in climate decision making. A reflexive approach to thematic analysis was used to construct three themes from data. Images were analysed for ascribed meanings.
First, participants stated that they and future generations will inherit the climate crisis from older generations, specifically decision makers. Second, they described a need to address a range of age-related barriers that limit children and young people's engagement in climate decision making, including perceptions about their capabilities. Finally, they discussed strategies and mechanisms to embed children and young people's perspectives within climate decision making, including at civic and political levels.
Children and young people have the right to be involved in decisions made about the climate crisis which significantly impact their futures, including their health and wellbeing. They argue for structural changes to embed their views in climate decision making, and describe a range of engagement strategies and mechanisms to structure their perspectives and knowledge with decision making processes. Furthermore, genuine involvement of children and young people in climate discussions must avoid youthwashing and tokenistic participation. The public health community can help address barriers to youth participation in climate action and should actively engage and collaborate with children and young people to facilitate their political and democratic influence over the climate crisis. This involves making room and creating an accessible seat at the decision making table to ensure their perspectives are embedded in climate decisions.
气候危机对儿童、青少年和后代的健康和福祉构成重大风险。尽管有人呼吁让儿童和青少年参与气候决策，但当前的权力结构限制了他们的参与。本文旨在了解儿童对气候危机对其未来的影响、他们影响气候决策的能力以及促进他们更多地参与有关气候危机的决策的策略和机制的看法。
在澳大利亚，对 n = 28 名年龄在 12-16 岁之间的儿童进行了在线深入访谈。使用照片诱发技术来引发关于气候危机如何影响他们的未来、他们影响气候决策的能力以及促进他们参与气候决策的策略和机制的讨论。使用反思性主题分析方法从数据中构建了三个主题。对图像进行了分析，以确定其赋予的含义。
首先，参与者表示，他们和后代将从老一辈，特别是决策者那里继承气候危机。其次，他们描述了需要解决一系列与年龄相关的障碍，这些障碍限制了儿童和青少年参与气候决策，包括对他们能力的看法。最后，他们讨论了将儿童和青少年的观点纳入气候决策的策略和机制，包括在公民和政治层面。
儿童和青少年有权参与有关气候危机的决策，这些决策对他们的未来，包括他们的健康和福祉产生重大影响。他们主张进行结构性变革，将他们的观点纳入气候决策，并描述了一系列参与策略和机制，以将他们的观点和知识纳入决策过程。此外，真正让儿童和青少年参与气候讨论必须避免青年化和象征性参与。公共卫生界可以帮助解决青年参与气候行动的障碍，并应积极与儿童和青少年接触和合作，促进他们对气候危机的政治和民主影响。这涉及到留出空间，并在决策桌旁为他们创造一个可访问的座位，以确保他们的观点融入气候决策中。
