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Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability

More than 27 percent of the world's population is between the ages of 10 and 24. There is great untapped potential in young people that, if actively engaged, nurtured and connected to resources, is one of the biggest forces for change in the world. It is often said that youth are the leaders of tomorrow; but this is a myth. In many ways, youth are already leading the way. As the Earth Charter International Youth Coordinator for over two years, I was privileged to work and interact with a wide range of young people from around the world. There are a number of other myths about youth that I confronted during this time.

A second myth is that there is one unified youth voice. I have seen activists go to great lengths to have "the youth voice" heard. Unfortunately--in the rare cases when they get a chance to speak--they are not always informed about the issues at hand and therefore end up repeating the demand that youth be heard. This is painful for me to watch. Speaking of a unified youth voice does disservice to the diversity of young people and the range of skills, knowledge and values they possess. It is a great loss when these strengths are not respected and integrated into otherwise adult-centric organizations and processes.

A third myth is that the presence of youth will in itself make the difference. Yet, young people are often segregated and marginalized, even in the most well-intentioned processes. At an international environmental education conference in India, for example, I initially thought it laudable that the organizers had established one of the 30 working groups to focus on youth. Each working group was to contribute recommendations to the conference declaration, with the exception of the one on youth, which was to write its own. The other groups focused on content issues: climate change, sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, World Heritage Sites, fragile ecosystems, etc. Our group became more and more restless, wondering how our voices would be heard by the other participants and feeling left out of the larger process.

On the second day of the conference, we could see that we were on track to fulfill the quintessential "inclusion of youth at a conference" model: (1) separate the young people to write their own statement, (2) have them select a representative to read the youth statement in the final plenary and (3) cause adults to weep, applaud and then carry on with their previous priorities. This may sound harsh, but it is often true--and still better than not including youth at all.

In This Together

Our youth working group took action and made the strategic decision to go beyond the role prescribed for us. While carrying on with our own youth-designed sessions and drafting recommendations on education for sustainability, we worked with conference organizers to get seven young people onto high leverage plenary panels and two onto the conference declaration drafting committee. Others, based on their interest and knowledge, joined "adult" working groups, bringing their unique skills and perspective and reporting back periodically. In this way, we contributed an informed youth voice to many key working groups, enhancing the efforts that were under way. The results were a high-quality youth declaration and a conference declaration enriched by young people's contributions.

A fourth myth: Youth are our hope for the future. Yes and no. This is a nice-sounding sentiment, but I feel this places the burden of past social, environmental and economic wrongs unfairly on young people's shoulders. What would be more accurate and inspiring to say is that we are in this together and, in that togetherness, there is hope for the future.

It is not enough to dispel myths. We must create a shared vision for our future and effective strategies for its realization. One such strategy is intergenerational partnership for sustainability (IPS). IPS confronts the above myths by supporting emerging sustainability leaders; celebrating the diversity and special strengths of different generations; and engaging young people with respect and a willingness to envision a common future and to take action to get there.

The IPS concept was developed in 2007 and 2008 through workshops at a number of international environment and sustainability conferences, culminating in a resolution adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in which IPS is defined as: A collaboration between people of different generations, geographies and genders, working toward the common vision of a "just, sustainable, and peaceful" world (Earth Charter, 2000). IPS consists of the exchange of ideas and experiences, mutual learning and engaged action, seeking to bridge intergenerational differences based on respect for the community of life, the Earth and future generations. The central goal of IPS is to contribute to enhancing current and emerging leadership to help address complex global challenges, especially climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty and gender inequity.

To help bring IPS out of the realm of abstract ideal, Frits Hesselink--former chair of the IUCN's Commission on Education and Communication (CEC)--and I co-coordinated a "Buddy Experiment" to demonstrate one form of intergenerational partnership in action. I had met Frits at the launch IPS workshop in Ahmedabad, India, in 2007, where the buddy idea was proposed by one of the participants. Our Buddy Experiment paired 80 youth with 80 CEC members for five months leading up to the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

Buddy Experiment participants reported that they valued the new inspiration, ideas and cross-cultural understanding; capacity building, skills development and increased confidence; and collaboration on joint projects that they gained from engaging with one another.

The Buddy Experiment

As we designed, implemented and evaluated the Buddy Experiment, Frits and I came to see one another as buddies as well. We drafted the concept paper and application together, with real respect for one another's ideas; we both encouraged participants with monthly discussion topic suggestions; and we both contributed to the evaluation and report of the Experiment, calling for its further improvement and use by other IUCN Commissions. Importantly, we approached our project as learners, not fearful of admitting our limitations or making mistakes.

Other forms of intergenerational partnership include collaboration between students and professors; young people engaged in meaningful internships, employment or leadership positions within an NGO, government or business; young people being integrated in NGO and country delegations in global governance processes for sustainability; youth organizations consulting and working in collaboration with senior colleagues on peacebuilding and sustainability projects; local and indigenous communities in which exchange is practiced between generations; and families that actively learn and grow together.

Building on the success of our Buddy Experiment and Resolution, intergenerational partnership has gained a foothold in the IUCN. Two young people have been appointed to Commission steering committees and one will be appointed as a Councilor. Our efforts focus on increasing the numbers and meaningful engagement of youth within and through the IUCN.

Intergenerational partnerships can improve communication and understanding between different generations; help sustain the values in society, while allowing flexibility for change; enhance sustainability decision-making and action; and improve intergenerational equity.

I am convinced that the sustainability challenges we face today are so complex that they are best addressed by diverse, intergenerational teams and communities.

I encourage you to join our Alliance for IPS as an individual or organization, and to use our framework for IPS and the IUCN resolution to guide intergenerational activities. In the words of the Earth Charter, “Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.

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