•  Jamaican Dainalyn Swaby wins UN’s coveted green ticket among 100 globally

[Kingston, 26 August 2019] —The United Nations last week announced Jamaican Climate Activist, Dainalyn Swaby among 100 outstanding young climate champions around the world to have been awarded ‘Green Tickets’ to participate in the UN Youth Climate Summit on Saturday, September 21 at UN Headquarters in New York.

The 100 ‘Green Ticket’ winners will receive funded travel as carbon-neutral as possible to New York to attend the Youth Climate Summit, after being selected from a group of over 7,000 applicants between the ages of 18 to 29, based on their demonstrated commitment to addressing the climate crisis and advancing solutions. Recipients represent countries from all regions.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-implemented Japan Caribbean Climate Change Partnership has also announced sponsorship of two other Jamaicans to attend the Youth Climate Summit among a contingent of 11 JCCCP-sponsored Caribbean youth. The Jamaicans are. Michael Morgan, Media and Communications Director, Caribbean Youth Environment Network and Jhannel Tomlinson, Ph.D. candidate blogger and Commonwealth Correspondent for Global Young Voices. Both Morgan and Tomlinson were country delegates at the 2017 J-CCCP-hosted Caribbean Youth Climate Change Conference and have all gone on to form a non-profit called Youth Climate Change Activists.

The Jamaican delegates will join the more than 500 young climate leaders selected to participate in the first-ever Youth Climate Summit at the UN. The Summit will provide a platform for young climate leaders to showcase their solutions on a global stage and engage directly with decision-makers on the defining issue of our time. Youth leaders will present the discussions of the Youth Climate Summit at the Climate Action Summit on Monday, 23 September.

Green ticket winner Swaby, a communications coordinator with the USAID-funded JA-REECH II Climate Change project said, “I feel both elated and honoured to have been selected ... This is a very significant investment which underscores the great responsibility I have in representing the youth voice in Jamaica and the Caribbean, a region that stands to be greatly affected by climate inaction.  My participation in this summit will enhance my experience in relation to climate change leadership and the role I along with my peers must play in advancing actions to address this challenge.”

“I am humbled at being offered this opportunity to once more represent Jamaican youth on the international stage,” said JCCCP-sponsored Jhannel Tomlinson.  “As a platform for young leaders driving climate action, I look forward to an action-oriented and intergenerational program that promotes meaningful engagement between youth and decision-makers,” she said.  

Morgan, the other Jamaican sponsored by the JCCCP said he was extremely honoured at his selection. “This is a very encouraging opportunity as we look to include more young people in the fight against climate change. I am eager to learn and share my own knowledge in an effort to advance climate financing for SIDS (Small Island Developing States) across the world, as we are on the front lines of many of climate change’s worst impacts.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres congratulated Green Ticket recipients and all successful applicants in a video message, saying, “I appeal to young people around the world to follow the Summit online and to be drivers of climate action in their own countries.”

Young people who are unable to attend in person are encouraged to participate in the My Future Our Planet campaign by sharing a selfie video on Twitter or Instagram with the phrase “Youth #ClimateAction Summit”, declaring what actions they are already taking to fight climate change and asking their leaders to take climate action now. They can also get involved in local United Nations Association chapters; continue to make choices to have less harmful effects on the environment and track these efforts through the UN’s ActNow campaign; and tune into the Youth Climate Summit virtually via livestream on UN Web TV. More ways to engage will be announced in the coming weeks on the UN Youth Climate Summit website.

The Youth Climate Summit is a key milestone ahead of the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, which is calling on leaders from government, business and civil society to boost efforts to tackle climate change and comes just one day after the Global Climate Strike on September 20.