Youth Forum To Be Included In Future Regional Platforms Of UNDRR

Jamaica has moved a successful Motion for the inclusion of a Youth Forum in future Regional Platforms of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

The announcement was made by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, during his remarks at the closing ceremony of the Seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean (RP21), at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, on November 4.

“I am pleased that this Regional Platform has adopted a resolution, moved by Jamaica, to integrate a Regional Youth Forum in all future platforms of the region and also to propose that a Global Youth Forum be incorporated into the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2022 and all Global Platforms thereafter,” the Minister said.

On the suggestion of Jamaica, the region hosted the first ever Youth Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean on October 26, where the region’s youth, spanning three time zones and languages, came together to discuss their role in building the region’s disaster resilience. They also made a submission to the decision-makers who met for RP21 on their discussions and suggestions.

This successful motion led by Jamaica is the second change the country has championed for the Regional Platform. Prior to Jamaica’s acceptance in 2018 to host the Seventh Regional Platform, the country lobbied for the Platform’s name change to include ‘the Caribbean’.

Regional Platforms and Global Platforms are biennial, multi-stakeholder forums that bring together countries to examine their commitments to the coordination and implementation of disaster risk-reduction activities.