Youth Adaptation Forum Bonn

Event description

The Youth Adaptation Forum Bonn will take place alongside the 62nd session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SB62), held under the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany. This forum will bring together young people from across the world to shape the global climate adaptation agenda.

Objectives 

• Provide a platform to exchange good practices and showcase youth-led adaptation solutions.
• Raise awareness and increase knowledge of climate adaptation. 
• Connect young leaders and foster collaboration to build resilient economies. 

Methodology
As part of the Forum, there will be a dedicated consultation on the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) 2.0, offering youth a direct role in informing and influencing this flagship initiative. Participants will engage in focused discussions around the following key questions to shape youth-led and youth-informed contributions to the global adaptation agenda: 

• What actions are required over the next five years to accelerate progress on the adaptation agenda? 
• What are the specific needs and priorities of young people in the context of climate adaptation? 
• What key interventions in education and youth engagement are needed to accelerate climate adaptation efforts? 

GCA Youth Forums in 2025
This Forum is part of the Global Center on Adaptation’s (GCA) broader Youth Leadership and Education program, which aims to connect and train young people to create climate-resilient economies and feature African youth leadership across the world. The mission of the program is to identify and address the needs and challenges young people face in engaging with climate adaptation and to showcase youth-led adaptation solutions. 
In 2025, leading up to COP30, GCA, in partnership with local and global youth organizations, will organize a series of eight Youth Adaptation Forums to build the largest Youth Adaptation Network (YAN) in the world and spotlight youth-led adaptation solutions. The Bonn Forum is the third in this series and the first to bring together youth representatives from all over the world. 
Each Forum produces a Youth Communiqué, summarizing the views and recommendations of young participants. These outcomes will be presented at the GCA’s AAAP Partnership Forums, showcased at the Youth Adaptation Forum in Brazil, and shared with global leaders at COP30. 
For more information on the other Forums visit this page here.

Why the Youth Adaptation Forums
The world is home to the largest population of young people in history, with 1.21 billion young people aged 15-24 living in the world today.  
 
Africa has the youngest population in the world. Some 70% of people in sub-Saharan Africa are under the age of 30, yet its youth are among the most vulnerable to climate change.  
 
Young people are effective actors in climate adaptation. When empowered, young people can build climate resilience and adaptive capacity in their communities to enable a sustainable response to the impacts of climate change. 

CONTACT DETAILS   
For more information, please contact:  
Adriana Valenzuela, Youth Leadership and Education Thematic Lead, at youth@gca.org