UWC Dilijan has been awarded the status as the organizer of the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) in Armenia, an event in the framework of the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties (COP), which started at the end of November in Dubai.
Held on October 29 at UWC Dilijan in the run up to COP28, this was the first conference in Armenia within the U.N. youth outreach program.
A group of young people with certificates of participation
About 80 young people, including 65 from Armenian high schools ages 16-18, participated in the LCOY. The participants came from various regions in Armenia, including Yerevan, Shirak, Lori, Tavush, Vanadzor and Armavir. Additionally, there were participants from several countries, such as Russia, Macedonia, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Palestine, South Africa and Serbia.
Sustainable art workshop
The theme of LCOY Armenia was “Climate Crisis: How We Can All Contribute To Solving It.” Student-led, the conference focused on local issues, while Armenian experts briefed the participants on the status in Armenia with a number of workshops on practical steps to tackle climate change. The main issues discussed during the conference were:
- Energy Efficiency of Buildings – Vahram Jalalyan, coordinator of “De-Risking and Scaling-up Investment in Energy Efficient Building Retrofits” UNDP-GCF project
- Water Security in Armenia – Alexander Arakelyan, advisor for Integrated Water Resources Management (EU4Sevan Project) at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
- Climate Change Policy in Armenia – Diana Harutunyan, Programme Manager at UNDP Armenia
- How Can Circular Economy Support in Solving the Climate Crisis – Irina Mkrtchyan, co-founder, Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development of Communities (ISSD) NGO
During one of the sessions at UWC Dilijan
At the end of the conference, participants collectively drafted a statement and were asked to write pledges of their commitment to change habits in their own lives and/or to influence practices in their own schools and communities.
With the support of The Good Investors, two students, David Khanoyan from British International School and Sophie Nalbandyan from Dilijan High School, were awarded internships with Climate UTURN.
Erdni Mangutov (Russia, UWC Dilijan ’24), a member of YOUNGO, an organization behind LCOY, spearheaded the application process for UWC Dilijan to be a site for LCOY. “It was truly inspiring to see the diverse representation of countries and regions coming together in Armenia to address sustainability and environmental concerns at the conference. I hope that this conference has motivated everyone to take meaningful actions to drive positive change in these critical areas and that it would become an annual event. Creating awareness about climate change is the foundation for creating behavioral change as individuals and as society on the whole,” he said.