FREE SPIRIT JOINS THE YOUTH TASK FORCE
OF THE UN DECADE ON ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
Free Spirit is proud to join leading environmental organizations as an official partner in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems, vital to our lives and well-being, all around the world. As an actor and official partner, Free Spirit will play an active role in managing and shaping the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Building on our extensive experience to protect and restore nature, our long-term commitment will entail actively funding and leading efforts to realize ecosystem restoration globally, and contributing new science and research to help scale up these efforts effectively. Free Spirit joins the Youth task force of the UN Decade.
THE YOUTH TASK FORCE
The involvement of youth in the UN Decade and #GenerationRestoration movement is critically important, not only for the sustainability of restoration initiatives beyond 2030 but also for promoting intergenerational equity. During the UN Decade, the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth through the Children and Youth Organisation accredited to UNEP and SDG 2 Working Group will facilitate the engagement of youth advocates, youth-led restoration initiatives, and a wide range of formal and informal youth groups.
In December 2020, the UN Decade Coordination Group approved the establishment of a UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Youth Task Force, as an advisory and consultative youth mechanism for the UN Decade on matters related to youth. The Youth Task Force should be as self-organized as possible, in line with the ‘New Power’ approach of the UN Decade strategy. These Terms of Reference therefore builds upon views and perspectives shared by youth groups across different parts of the world on how they envision a fit-for-purpose structure to enable meaningful participation and engagement of the younger generation, in line with the principles of with and for young people of the United Nations Youth Strategy and specifically its cross-cutting theme of Climate and Environmental Action.
PURPOSE
The #GenerationRestoration Youth Task Force will advise on and facilitate youth engagement in the context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Functions of the Task Force
The Task Force serves provides advisory and supportive functions to the UN Decade:
✓ Policy and Advocacy: Collective and meaningful participation of young people in official and formal avenues of policy design, implementation, monitoring, follow-up and review of governance of Decade at all levels.
✓ Youth Action: Provide young people with an inclusive platform that encourages them to lead, join, showcase and share innovative and effective actions aimed at addressing the needs of children and youth related to ecosystem restoration.
✓ Space for Discussion: Provision of platforms and opportunities of dialogue with political decision makers, as well as among youth of different rightsholder groups.
✓ Knowledge and Capacity Building: Facilitation of capacity building processes and activities for young people aimed at enhancing understanding, knowledge and skills in relation to the focus areas of the UN Decade and its technical and political processes and organs.
