UGM and the Provincial Government of Yogyakarta Special Region will host an International Level Youth Conference entitled International Youth Conference 2011. The conference that is fully supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KEMENPORA) is planned to last for five days, 20-25 February 2011 at Saphir Hotel Yogyakarta.
A total of 144 participants from 37 countries have confirmed to participate in this activity. Apart from Indonesia, also participating in this event youth from Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Malawi, France, Ukraine, Suriname, Finland, Palestine, Afghanistan, China, Japan, Romania, Italy, Spain, India, Serbia, Madagascar, Uganda, Gambia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Samoa, Seychelles and Yemen.
"Climate change seems to be the major theme in this youth meeting as these problems are a universal issue faced by all countries in the world," said Dr. Eko Sugiharto, a researcher at the Center for Environmental Studies, UGM, Friday (18/2).
The theme is a continuation of the WISDOM International meeting some time ago at UGM. This theme is expected to incite concern of the youth about climate change. "At least, they can adapt to climate change, better if later it will came to efforts to halt climate change," said Eko Sugiharto in the UGM Stana Parahita room.
Eko hoped the meetings will produce recommendations which will be submitted to the executive and legislative bodies. Consequently, the policy related to climate change in each region will be produced.
Teguh Rahardjo, Head of Yogyakarta Youth and Sports office said that the international youth meeting is supposed to take place in November 2010. However, due to eruption of Merapi, the implementation of this activity was delayed. 'With the current implementation, I hope this activity will restore trust, thus providing a positive impact on the economy, culture and education in Yogyakarta," he said.
Teguh shared the same expectations on the theme of this meeting. This theme is expected to inspire young people to anticipate the various impacts of global warming process. "Climate change is happening right now due to human actions 20-30 years ago. Hence from this meeting the youth can anticipate possible changes for the upcoming 20-30 years," he explained.
The IYC 2011 series of activities consisting of a panel discussion based on three sub-themes, namely Managing Our Environment: Learning from the Past, Act for the Future, the Youth Initiative on Environmental Conservation, and Pre-Poor Conservation as a win-win solution. Some of the speakers who agreed to attend this activity include Nivala Mikko (Finland), Marx Jheung (Singapore), Michael Cordova (Mexico) and several speakers from WWF Indonesia.