by erick ochieng otieno
Published on: Jul 28, 2007
Topic:
Type: Opinions

Ever been in a situation where you have a lot yet can not use any. Well that is where the world is heading to. If we do not take a lot of care for our environment and the atmosphere, then what affects the British Isles and most parts of the world met with floods will soon find itself knocking on our doors over the world. The question we are supposed to ask ourselves is this; are we ready for it?

Global warming has been the hottest topic in the current century and it seems to be the future topic if drastic measures are not taken. Day in day out, a group fighting for the restoration of our forests sets in with ever increasing focus on saving our forest and reducing the global green house gas emissions. What we should be asking ourselves is this, are our honorable leaders listening? If the answer to this is yes, then what have they done to improve the situation? If on the other hand the answer is no, then what are they doing about it? It is quite encouraging to see many youth getting more and more involved in these activities to save our planet earth from eventual destruction. This, it should be noted, could not have happened if it were not for other equally concerned stake holders such as our governments and donors. More, however, still need to be done.

Coming back to the issue of climate change and global warming, it is apparent that a lot has to be done to bring all the stake holders together. A lot of resources have been put in and more still need to be put in order that people of all levels get involved. This would require that consultations, not only between the top government and other officials of international organizations but also with those who are perceived as having “very little” to contribute are carried out on a frequent basis so as to come up with solutions that are long lasting. By using the term “Very little”, I imply those who are mostly marginalized in most decision making processes which include even the children.

The views of all theses stakeholders are crucial in that even though most of everyone’s wishes will be granted; there would be a working paper that would provide the basis of policy making process that is at least workable. Why am I saying this? We should all remember that sustainable development does not become automatic until everyone embraces the idea behind it. This can not happen if there is no agreement between those who are involved even if the level of involvement may be minimal. This does not mean that no efforts have been made to improve stakeholder involvement, it only tries to heighten the fact that more need to be done.

Having said that is worthy to note that there have been a lot of improvements when it comes to the youth involvement all over the world. Thanks to a lot of inclusion of internet in campaigns by most organizations. These online communities have given more voices to the youths whose ideas may have otherwise been lost with the floods of idleness. Keeping the youths involved in these processes gives an opportunity to realize ones true potentials and dreams of being in a position to contribute to that society both locally and globally. It gives one the chance to be a global patriot. In line with this, it is important that many governments and international community come up with more support programs to tap into this vast resource. This would make the resources so plenty and so near rather than so plenty yet so far as in the case of flood waters where you find it in plenty, but you have to by a bottle of water to drink. In the process, just like the destructive nature of the floods, we will avoid catastrophic nature of these ideas and use them to save our planet from pending disasters like melting ice.

INVEST IN THE YOUTH


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