RC Remarks at the Asia-Pacific Youth Environment Forum

It is an honor to open this Asia-Pacific Youth Environment Forum, a forum created by youth, for youth.

To the passionate leaders gathered here in Fiji and across the digital space: this is your time, your voice, and your platform.

This gathering is more than a forum. It is a declaration that young people are no longer waiting for permission to lead. You are already at the table, and the United Nations is proud to stand with you.

The Weight You Carry, and the Course You Chart

Young people are not responsible for the climate crisis, yet you are carrying its heaviest burdens. Still, with courage and creativity, you are steering the vaka, the Pacific canoe, through the storm.

You may not have designed the systems that led us here, but you are charting new courses toward justice, resilience, and sustainability.

The vaka is more than a vessel. It is a symbol of community and shared purpose. Just as a canoe requires cooperation, knowledge, and trust, so does the journey of youth leadership. And like the vaka, your leadership is rooted in tradition, powered by innovation, and strengthened by solidarity.

You are not passengers on this journey. You are the navigators.

Youth Leadership in Action

Sometimes leadership begins quietly, in a classroom, in a village, in a conversation. One of the most powerful examples began right here in the Pacific.

In 2019, Pacific law students launched a campaign that led to a historic Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice. It affirmed that States have obligations to protect the planet and uphold human rights, including the right to life, health, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

This was not just a legal milestone. It was a youth-led victory for climate justice worldwide.

The Urgency We Face

Across Asia and the Pacific, the triple planetary crisis is immediate and personal.

• In coastal communities, rising seas threaten homes, culture, and ancestral land.
• In cities, air pollution chokes opportunities.
• In rural areas, biodiversity loss erodes food systems and traditions.
• And our oceans are on track to carry more plastic waste than fish.

These crises are not felt equally. For young women, adolescent girls, Indigenous youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, and persons with disabilities, they magnify existing inequalities. That is why our responses must be inclusive, rights-based, gender-responsive, and youth-centered.

From Manifesto to Movement

Your 2025 Asia-Pacific Youth Environment Manifesto is bold, visionary, and uncompromising. It demands:

• A just and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels,
• A strong Global Plastics Treaty,
• Protection of ecosystems and heritage,
• And above all, youth as equal partners in governance — not tomorrow, but today.

This is what the Pact for the Future, adopted at the UN Summit of the Future last year, asked for. It commits to a world where youth are recognized not as “leaders-in-waiting” but as leaders in their own right.

Our responsibility is to make sure these commitments are not hollow words, but living realities in villages, in parliaments, in regional forums, and in global negotiations.

The UN’s Commitment

Together, we will:

• Support youth-led programming, research, and innovation, equipping you with skills and resources;
• Advocate for youth inclusion in climate governance, ensuring your voices are heard in decision-making;
• Invest in health, education, and resilience, so that no young person is left behind.

The lecture hall that sparked the ICJ campaign reminds us that transformation begins with education, empowerment, and vision.

Closing Call: You are not just adapting to the future, you are shaping it.

So I ask you: What will you build next? What will you demand next?

The region and the world are listening.

Let us build together an Asia-Pacific where every young person can thrive in a climate-resilient, just, and sustainable world.

Vinaka Vakalevu. Thank you.