The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) Youth Climate Report (YCR), a digital database documentary project, will once more be presenting films young people from around the world made this year at the UN climate summit, COP27, in Egypt in November. The focus this year for many YCR workshops was the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities. Two YCR projects - the Ghana Youth Video Program out of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada and the Planetary Health Film Lab out of York University in Toronto, Canada - worked with youth in both Ghana and Ecuador this summer.
The project in Ghana produced 12 short documentary films and its compilation video represents the country's first climate change documentary film. It will be screened at a special Side Event at COP27 on November 9, 2022 at 4:45 pm in Room 8 (150) in the Blue Zone. A press conference announcing the film will be held the day before November 8 at 10:30 am. All are encouraged to attend.
The project in Ecuador worked exclusively with Indigenous youth representing 11 different communities throughout the country. A total of 16 films were produced and each one using the Indigenous languages of Kichwa and Shuar. The event showing these films will take place November 7 at a time to be announced at the UNFCCC's new Children and Youth Pavilion.
YCR made an effort to train, recruit, and curate films made by youth in their Indigenous languages as 2022 marks the first year in the UN's International Decade of Indigenous Languages. All participants successfully completed the program and were awarded Certificates of Achievement. For more information, please contact Mark Terry, Executive Director, Youth Climate Report, at ycrtv1@gmail.com or Laura Bannon, Project Manager, at ycrtv2@gmail.com. Both will be in attendance at COP27 from November 5 to 13, 2022.