Locations
Event Details
February 23, 2025
9.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m.
ROM 8 Studio by Metal Bees, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – 23 February 2025: Local youth groups, climate policy advocates, and environmental defenders convened over the weekend to unpack what it means to fully grasp the climate crisis as well as its solutions, from the generational perspective of young people.
Eliana a/p Tan Beng Hui (second from left), Programme Coordinator at Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli (AKWOA); Aroe Ajoeni, Communications Director at Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY); 'Ariff Amir Ali, Director, Advocacy at Youth United for Earth (YUFE); Khalisa Khairina, Climate Policy Advocate and Mitigation Working Group Coordinator at the Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD) are part of the panel session on “We, the Youth: How do we connect the dots between business practices, impacts on the new generation and R2HE?". The panel was moderated by Quek Yew Aun (left), Administrative and Diplomatic Officer - Ministry Youth and Sports.
Across Asia, rapid economic growth has redefined the global landscape, reducing poverty on an unprecedented scale and creating pathways to decent work for millions. However, this progress has come with significant trade-offs—widening income inequality and severe environmental damage.
In Malaysia, reliance on land-intensive industries has fuelled economic growth, but also deepened social disparities and accelerated ecological degradation. As one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, Malaysia faces heightened vulnerability to climate change, with its forests, biodiversity, and coastal ecosystems at risk from deforestation, land degradation, and extreme weather events.
Networking session at the Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli (AKWOA) booth display.
The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report further highlights the critical interdependence of climate, ecosystems, biodiversity, and human societies, emphasising human influence through unsustainable energy and land use, as well as production and consumption patterns. With global temperatures rising at their fastest rate in 2,000 years and extreme weather events—heatwaves, floods, and droughts—becoming the norm, the region faces escalating climate impacts. UNDP’s key takeaways from the report underscore this emergency:
- Every increment of warming accelerates rollbacks and heightens food and water insecurity.
- Procrastination is deadly, as many ecosystems near their limits of adaptability.
- These impacts are deeply unjust, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable.
In response, environmental defenders globally are urging state and industry actors to re-examine the consequences of growth-at-all-costs policies, challenging the existing business paradigm that provides products and services based on models of extraction.
The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, commonly referred to as “R2HE”, was thus recognised by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 and the General Assembly in July 2022, as a response to the urgent challenges posed by the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. It has been recognised that the worst impacts of the planetary crisis are disproportionately inflicted on the most vulnerable communities, predominantly in the Global South.
“With 1.8 billion young people worldwide, this generation holds immense power to influence sustainability as consumers, rightsholders, and future leaders. Supporting their capacity development, education, and financing youth-led initiatives, while creating environments that empower them, ensure that their recommendations are integrated into policy,” said H.E. Rafael Daerr, Ambassador of the European Union to Malaysia, a key partner funding the youth-building programme.
“As Malaysia assumes Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, we must push for bold, rights-based climate action that holds industries accountable and protects those most at risk. Our future depends on urgent, joint action that actively empowers youth in decision-making processes that will shape the future of the region,” said H.E. Edmund Bon, Representative of Malaysia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), a strategic partner.
“As there is a collective effort to re-examine the consequences of growth-at-all-cost policies, there must be stronger action today to address the impact of production, trade and investment flows on vulnerable communities. Normative frameworks such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights serve as catalysts to guide action by states and businesses. These frameworks must be reinforced with binding commitments and stronger regulatory oversight in the narrow window of time accorded to us—ensuring growth never comes at the cost of human rights, the environment, or future generations,” said Edward Vrkić, Resident Representative a.i. of UNDP Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam.
H.E. Rafael Daerr, Ambassador of the European Union to Malaysia, Edward Vrkić (top right), Resident Representative a.i. of UNDP Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam and H.E. Edmund Bon (bottom), Representative of Malaysia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) discuss navigating the linkages between business, human rights and the environment.
To learn more about the project, contact:
Jehan Wan Aziz
jehan.wan.aziz@undp.org
Programme Analyst, Rule of Law
UNDP Malaysia
For media-related enquiries:
Lalitha Monisha
Lalitha.monisha@undp.org
Communications Consultant
UNDP Malaysia
