Joint Press Conference for the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, Gender Caucus, Youth Caucus, and Civil Society Organizations - Press Conference, UNCCD COP17

Good morning everyone and thank you for coming for this press conference. So it is a joint press conference between indigenous peoples' caucuses, local communities caucuses, civil society organizations, youth caucuses and gender caucuses. So this joint press conference today It's helping us to discuss about what's happening here at the COP17. So we are today because there cannot be a COP without those who are implementing on the ground. Our meaningful participation is very important. We are the peoples of the land. We are the peoples who are caring about the land and territories. So COP17 is taking place under a promise of restoring land, restoring hope. The official program brings together government, indigenous people, civil society, women, youth, pastoralists, smallholders, scientists, and many other actors. Those who are fighting the desertification, the land degradations, We therefore stand here together through all our different caucuses and the civil society to send one clear message to the party and to the world. Parties have an obligation to implement the conventions. And those who are implementing underground is us. It will be no COP decision without those who are implementing. So they cannot deliver implementation by excluding the people who are implementing. Let me briefly give you what's happening. At the beginning of the COP, Several substantive issues were deferred following the objection raised by party. This is clue issues concerning meaningful emerging engagement of the civil society and indigenous peoples on the gender responsive approach. and strong synergy between climate, biodiversity and land. In our land, they are not separated. Climate impact enhances biodiversity loss and makes land degradation. The future strategies framework and the future functions of the conventions and the interface between science, knowledge and policies. Science give us the real evidence. Indigenous people's knowledge give us centuries of years. We cannot determine land degradation without those who are giving us the solution. They determine who participate, whose knowledge count, how decisions are informed, and whether implementation reach the communities living on the front line of the land degradations and the drought. So the official COP17 program itself recognize the importance of our constituencies. The caution is there, very simple. If those voices are recognized outside the negotiation rooms, why should they be excluded from the decision that shape their future? So those kind of the messages bring all our constituencies together. If we are implementing on the ground, our voices must be here. If we are stewardship of 50% of the land, Our voices must be in the table. The first week passed. Now is the second week. So the second week must be determined for the peoples of the land. If it is the cup of the people and the cup of the hope, it must be done. I have the speakers. from the different constituency here that I will pass one by one to make their statement. Then I will ask you to respond to post the questions from the journalist. Make it straight questions. My name is Hindu Umaru Ibrahim. I am from Bororo indigenous and pastoralist communities from Chad and I'm the chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Desertification. My first speakers will be from the indigenous peoples and the pastoralists. So let me start by my brother Ole Kawunga, who is a Maasai pastoralist from Kenya. Please.

Good morning. I am Asid Mali Olekaunga from the representing the pastoralists. I'm a Masai from Kenya. And in 2022, the General Assembly declared 2026 in the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. And this links squarely to the UNCCD. And at COP16, We know that decision five was made to establish the indigenous peoples caucus. In Africa, the hunter-gatherers and the pastoralists form a big constituency of the communities calling themselves indigenous peoples. And we are very much concerned that that decision is being diluted. by deferring the decision, the terms of reference and all that, as it has to establish it to make it functional, the decision reached in 2024. So as mentioned by Indu, it will be a pipe dream to meet targets about land neutrality, issues about the certification without centering the rights of those who steward the land in these decisions. And we feel that we are being excluded and this will have a huge impact not only just to us, but to the whole world. So it's very important that all those decisions parties make a way to bring them back to the substantive part of the discussions of COP17 because we do contribute a considerable proportion of the solutions to address climate change, land degradation, but also other challenges that are facing the world. If you look the rangelands, the land that we steward, it sequesters about 550 gigatons of carbon. And this very important for the world. And we're here as pastoralists. and tying to the declaration that was made in 2024, sacred lands, to the declaration we made here in Ula Bataan for global pastoralists, recognizing the rights of pastoralists and other indigenous peoples is very paramount to climate and other degradations issues being discussed at different agendas, whether it's a CBD, whether it is climate change, whether it is in NCCD. the indigenous peoples, the pastoralists, the hunter-gatherers form a central part of the biodiversity areas in which the world depends for solutions for climate change. And without those holding those rights, without recognizing, without them playing a very central part to decision-making, it will be a very challenge. to state parties to achieve their decision. Thank you very much, and I will look forward to engage as we move forward.

Thank you, Olay. I'm passing now on to Jennifer Corpus from the Indigenous Peoples Caucus.

Thank you very much, Sister Hindu. And I wanted to amplify some of the messages that has already been articulated by my brother from the Maasai. My name is Jennifer Taoli Corpus. I am from the Kankanai indigenous peoples. And while we are not affected directly by desertification, we are in places where drought is prevalent. And indigenous peoples, we have not caused these problems. We have not caused desertification, we have not caused land degradation, drought, climate change, or biodiversity loss. And yet we are disproportionately affected by all of these issues that are coming now with more intensity. However, as my brother says, We are here to offer solutions. We have knowledge that is born from centuries of our living closely in harmony with nature. And we are not troublemakers. So we're really concerned that the CSOs are being denied space. The indigenous peoples, local communities, women and youth are being denied our rightful spaces here. I repeat, we are not here to bring trouble. We are here to offer solutions, solutions that are born from our close relationship with nature and with the land. So we would not accept being erased from the agenda. We come from experiences also in the different spaces, in biodiversity, in climate change, and the CCD is lagging behind. We have to progress equally in the CBD, in climate change, we have a platform for engagement, we have a space in the contact groups, and this has benefited the process. The parties have acknowledged that we have made important contributions. So to close out the space here is to sacrifice the effectiveness of the convention. Our solutions, which we bring here, should be heard in all of the processes of the convention, in the COP, in the CRIC, in the CST, in all the expert groups. And as I said, we are not here to bring trouble. We may protest because we are being shut out, but always these are peaceful protests and with the intent to bring our solutions. So we would not like the example being brought here where a party is able to block certain agenda items into other spaces. So we don't want this to set a precedent. So we are fighting for all of the conventions here because if we allow this, This who's to say that it will not happen in all of the other spaces. So we are urging the parties to resist unilateral positions by states that are prejudicing the effectiveness of the process. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. I'm passing now to the local communities representative, Ma Estrella Banzuela. Asian Farmers Association.

Okay, thank you so much and good morning to everyone. Here at UNCCD COP17 are representatives of local communities of peasants, small-scale family farmers in lowlands, hills, mountains and forests, pastoralists, small-scale fishers in island and coastal communities, Afro-descendants and forest dependent groups. We represent the local communities who are at the front lines of land degradation, desertification, drought, and climate change. We face the consequences of these issues every day with failing crops, lower yields, no seeds sprouting, and lower incomes threatening our livelihoods and food security. But we are also amongst the people restoring ecosystems, managing land and water, protecting biodiversity, and sustaining local food systems every day. We manage our ecosystems with systems and practices of agroecology, such as agroforestry, sustainable fisheries, livestock, pasture and grazing systems, and other ecosystem approaches. With us being both one of the biggest victims and key solution providers in combating desertification, land degradation and drought, why should we be excluded in decisions and discussions here at UNCCD? We should be heard. We should be recognized as partners with meaningful participation in decision making, implementation, and access to finance with institutionalized mechanisms of participation in all committees and bodies of UNCCD. Policies and projects affecting our lands, livelihoods and natural resources must respect and ensure our rights to lands, waters and forests, must recognize our knowledge and must ensure our meaningful participation. This scope of action cannot be built without the people who are most affected and who are already taking action on the ground. The local communities caucus joins our brothers and sisters in the indigenous peoples, youth, gender caucuses and the CSO panel in calling for a meaningful participation in UNCCD. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ma Estrella. Now I'm passing to the civil society organizations to Miss Ellen Otaru Okoedion.

Thank you, my dear sister, Hindo. On behalf of the civil society organizations, and I would like to reiterate that the civil society organizations are the ones that represent all the communities that we heard speaking before me today. I want to bring to your attention that all of these communities, these groups, they bring the knowledge, the lived experience, and the practical solutions to the researchers, academicians, we're talking about farmers and farming improvement, as well as the pastoral issues and environmental defenders, in addition to the social movements, that we all talk about in the Convention's processes. Therefore, we want to strengthen the point that no government, institution or scientist can address the scale and complexity of drought, water and land degradation alone without the human element on the ground. Meaningful engagement with communities, Civil society complements scientific research and creates implementable policies. They also strengthen implementation and ensure that decisions that are being made respond to realities on the ground. The civil society in representative as a panel, we also want to recognize the importance of multilateralism in addressing challenges that transcend borders. Effective multilateral action depends on dialogue, trust, shared responsibility and the inclusion of diverse perspectives. Civil society is committed to contributing constructively to this process. We therefore call for the following: 1. Transparent and institutionalised mechanism for civil society preparation; 2. meaningful opportunities to contribute to contact groups and drafting processes; three, adequate space for civil society perspectives within the official programme of work; and four, predictable and sustained participation beyond side events and parallel spaces. We would like to remind everyone that civil society should not just be invited to witness decisions. We should be part of the meaningful opportunities that contribute to shaping those decisions. And I would like to conclude by saying the following, that the COP17 programme already includes an official session of the inclusion of civil society activities in the convention programme of work. We therefore see this as an important opportunity to move from consultation towards meaningful, engaging and institutionalized participation that strengthens the convention, that reinforces multilateralism and helps to ensure that decisions translate into effective actions and tangible benefits of communities on the ground beyond the COP17 conference here in Mongolia and anywhere, anytime in the world. And that is what we would like to send to you as our message. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sister Ellen. Let's move now to the youth caucus by Juliet Grace Luwede.

Thank you very much everyone. You might be wondering why should young people care? We are all, as young people we sort of find our ways represented in the different caucuses. We are indigenous youth, we are pastoral youth, gender, I'm a woman, I'm a girl, right? So even in gender as a topic, I'm represented there. We run CSOs, we are innovating and doing work on the ground. So the question of when these issues get taken off the agenda, we are actually losing our visibility. Maybe that term youth can be excluded, but when you exclude gender, you are excluding me. When you exclude pastoralists, you are excluding my brothers and sisters who are pastoralists who come from local communities who are indigenous youth. So it is important for us to actually care and also pay attention and actually call for meaningful youth engagement within this process. We've had opportunities where parties have called for meaningful youth engagement through the youth, the UNCCD youth engagement strategy, which for us was a huge win. And we thought, okay, finally we are being recognized. This is our time. But even now we are seeing that even that now is being put on the sidelines. So it is important for you as young people to actually care and actually make good trouble. We are troublemakers as young people, so let's actually cause some good trouble in these spaces by calling for meaningful youth engagement. What is our message as young people as we organize ourselves to the UNCCD Youth Caucus? The key things that we are actually simply asking for is institutionalized youth engagement. If you embed young people across the UNCCD policy cycle from policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation through formal national mechanisms which allow us to work with our parties. That's like we not just for us as young people but also the countries that we represent. when you think about implementation of the UNCCD youth engagement strategy that should not be left just to the young people it should be something that we collaborate on and cooperate on because that what that translates into is practical action at the national level regional levels with clear guidance shared good practices and integration into relevant policies and programs um there's also the need for us to actually move beyond consultation and just quoting as meaningful youth participation. We had a hundred young people in the room, 200 young people registered to be a part of the UNCCD COP. We should be moving from that perspective to are young people actually contributing to decision making and what does young people actually contributing to decision making. turn into? What does it, what kind of good practices that that give us? The other thing is the need for youth co-leadership. We are partners and that's what we seek for. That's what we are asking for. Youth co-leadership, what does youth co-leadership look like? That's something for all of us to reflect on in our individual capacities as well. Um amongst the conversations that we've had since last week was the need for accessible finance for youth led action. Many young people struggled to be able to come to Not because they couldn't afford it, but because the opportunities were not given to them. What does access to finance for the innovations that we have back home in our countries, for the knowledge sharing that needs to happen, for a young person from Mongolia to be able to work with a young person back home in Uganda to share knowledge and good practices that allow us to be able to address land degradation, desertification and drought as a collective, what does that need and what would that take? but also the need for stronger government youth participation. One of the things that I've appreciated, I think, with my time being here is how the government of Mongolia has re-emphasized the need to work with young people. That's a win for the young people in Mongolia. Is that a good practice I can take back home to Uganda as a reflection that my government can pick on as well and be able to put into practice as well. But the intergenerational leadership that also to exist. That needs to actually start to happen. We talk about intergenerational dialogue, intergenerational, intergenerational. What does that mean actually in practice when young people continue being excluded? So if we are speaking about intergeneration, it does not, it needs to get out from being exclusion but actually meaningfully put it into practice. What does intergenerational mean for you as well? Uh but there's also need for stronger coordination and I think this press conference is actually So, we're showcasing that for all of us. We've come together as a collective, not just as the gender caucus, the youth caucus, the CSO panel, indigenous caucus, local communities caucus. We've come as a collective to say, we stand here as one voice because in each one of us, all these caucuses are being represented and that's what we actually are asking for today. That's a reflection that we want all of you to make for yourselves and also ask for accountability by the leaders that we have representing us negotiation. Our ask as young people is do not ask us to implement when you're asking us to implement decisions that we've not participated in or been a part of, right? What we are asking for is can you allow us to shape these decisions with you as well? And our call is on that government, that institutions, partners and all the leaders that are gathered here at COP17 to march for ambition. Our theme is restoring land, restoring hope. and we can't restore land and restore hope if the people that we need to work with are being excluded. We, the young people of the world, stand united and we call upon the global community to listen, engage and act. If we are to restore land, restore hope, we also need to make sure that we are doing that in order to restore our future. So as young people, let's cause good trouble. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Okay, as you said, young people are troublemakers, but good trouble. This is what we want.

Let me pass to our last but not least one from the gender caucus, Beth Roberts, please.

Thank you so much, Hindu. At COP17, we have one party objecting to the word gender and the conversation about gender. And I want to talk about what we mean by the conversation about gender. We are talking about relationships between men and women. When we are talking about women and their role in restoring land, we're talking about indigenous women, we're talking about pastoralist women, we're talking about young women. When we open up the conversation about gender, we open up the conversation about power and about what it takes to be effective in this space, but also equal in this space. And so I want to do note who is left out of that conversation very often, and that is those who hold power. It's men. It's men from the global north. It's men who are not represented on this panel. And when we're talking about gender, we're calling for not just a recognition of how men and women hold power together and who holds power and what that means. We're calling for a shift in how power is held and by whom and how people are treated. when people hold power. We're calling for all of us on this panel and the intersections between our identities to be, as Julia had said, not just included, not just recognized, equally partnered with. We are calling for a fundamental shift in this space so that women, indigenous peoples, local communities, farmers are equitably represented in the decision-making processes, in the design of programming, in the implementation of the UNCCD, and fundamentally at the community level in the ways that resources are held, that land is held, in the ways that decisions are made about how do we address land restoration. When we ignore that conversation, when we take the conversation about gender and the engagement of civil society off the agenda, we are less effective as a convention, as parties to this convention, as people seeking to have a world where we have restored land and restored hope, where people can thrive together. And beyond taking it off the agenda and being less effective, we are not recognizing who it is that does the work, who cooks the food, who gets the water, who is restoring the land. Women do hold a different role as land stewards in communities. There's a conversation about patriarchy to be had about why women hold different roles, but the truth is that we depend, everyone in this air conditioned room depends on the labor of women in rural communities to ensure that we can continue to live on this planet. And so what we are calling for at this COP, what all of us are calling for is for parties to defend this conversation this week in contact groups, in plenary, And we are calling for parties to open this conversation further in the context of implementation of the convention. Do we have equal equitable representation on our delegations? Do we have equitable representations in our ministries of land and environment? Do we have government officials going to rural areas and listening to indigenous peoples, to pastoralists, to women within these communities? And are those perspectives fully represented, equitably represented, heard, and integrated into this space and every space that implements this convention. Without that action, without that conversation, we will not succeed. And so the call today and the encouragement today is to be in conversation with each other about how we're seeing power show up in this space and to be thinking about how we can link arms together as brothers and sisters, as men and women, as boys and girls to see the future that we all want to see. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Bex.

Now when you hear from all my panelists here, We all have same message. Do not let the fair item disappear. Make participation meaningful in this cup. Put our knowledge science together because we are solutions. Connect the three Rio conventions. We are not figurative. We are here to participate fully. I'm going to open questions from the journalists first. Please raise your hand. introduce yourself and ask your questions. May I have someone with the microphone there? Yes, I have the volunteers here to pass you the microphone. Seems like it is very clear for all the journalists here in the room. We really hope that you record everything we say here and you can take it up and make our voices to be here with the world, with the people here in the COP and with the world. Any journalists with any cautions, clarifications? Okay, now I pass to the second. Any participant here, no comment, no statement, if you have a questions of clarification, raise your hand and the panelists can clarify. Yes, introduce yourself and ask your question. Thank you.

Myself, and NGO, and also part of that international year for pastoralist South Asia support group. So the knowledge and science you have told, you know, so the knowledge, you know, it has been thousands of years time tested, but science is very recent. They just only validated very few, that know practices. So knowledge is beyond science. So as an NGO, we have come out to know the global level best practices. We are recently in the side event, we are given that know best practices, range land awards. So we see that know this UNCCD and CBD and also other platforms, you know, they have to take into account of all our indigenous caucus, local communities caucus, pastoralist caucus, and gender caucus. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

On synergy, through all the other convention, we have the indigenous peoples, local communities, genders used in all that, and in this convention is not the case, so about synergy.

Anyone wanted to take it from the panelist? Okay, Ellen and then Jin.

Uh, thank you very much, you've raised a very important, uh, point, um, because we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, We cannot talk about science and scientific research without including the indigenous knowledge. And science is to prove that that actually exists. That's why we have laboratories, researchers, and so many other things that are involved in technology as well to show that this is actually happening. And it is In many cases, where I come from, I come from Tanzania, from Africa, and it is very interesting to note how the fishermen, how the farmers can predict the weather from just the change of the sky. You can see the clouds, they will tell you it will rain tomorrow and it will be very heavy rain three days, consequently for three days it will be a very heavy rain with thunder. And they're just looking at the sky and you're wondering how do they know? And science needs to prove that, and that's why together, this is inseparable together this information and scientific research work together and we're talking also about the chemical we're talking about soil improvement how do we improve soil what how much nitrogen we need to put phosphorus and so many other chemicals in the soil if we don't use the research however our forefathers our grandfathers for thousands of years this land existed and we're talking about organic food it was always organic how come it is not organic now when we have introduced science. So that's why we need to look at all this collaboratively. And at the same time, we're bringing the three conventions, the synergies, because you cannot talk about food with environment, vegetation and humans existence without talking about biodiversity, water, all environmental conservation. And therefore, all three conventions play Each of the conventions has an important role. Together they form one complete element and we belong together. This universe is what we rely on. We destroy it, we don't exist. Therefore, together we have to find a solution and work as one. And this is why this press conference is important because we're saying that without combining all of these decisions and knowledge and perspectives, we will not be in you know, we will not be in a position to invest our money, resources and decisions into the credible and result oriented solutions. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Let me pass to Jean and Ole and we.

Thank you, brother. For me, as a pastoralist, the role of science is not to validate indigenous technical knowledge, because these are knowledge systems. The role of science is to complement traditional knowledge based on emerging situations like climate change, not created by indigenous peoples. Climate, the issue about global warming, It's about industrialization. But indigenous peoples, pastoralists are already addressing these issues. So the role of science is to complement tradition existing in knowledge to be able to be effective in terms of addressing these challenges emerging from industrialization. So, and the other thing that we need to note and for the point is indigenous peoples and pastoralists are not civil society. They are organized differently in communities. They are clan, customary institutions, and this is what holds us hands. It is our traditional knowledge. It is passed through this clan system, through the language, through, and so it's, and the land, and it is based on the land. The moment land disappears, the moment land changes ownership, the moment we change relationship between our land, It weakens our traditional knowledge, our relationship with the land, our identity, but also our customary institutions based on land and ecosystems that we've been, because it's people, it is generated through interaction between pastoralists, indigenous peoples, forest, sea, and land. Thank you.

Thank you, Ale. Jim.

Knowledge of indigenous peoples and the peoples who are working closely with nature was already recognized in 1992 across all of the three Rio conventions. And this is something that we cannot move back from. We should not regress. Now, of course, through the years, each of the conventions have evolved their own systems for how to listen to the knowledge holders. As my brother has said, we have in the UNFCCC now a platform of indigenous peoples and local communities, which is intended to bring together knowledge holders so that we can learn from the knowledge of those who work closely with the land about how to address the problems that we are all facing as a global community. In the CBD, Convention on Biological Diversity, there was a subsidiary body, a permanent subsidiary body established on traditional knowledge and other provisions of the convention related to indigenous peoples and local communities. And this is quite a groundbreaking development. Next, in a couple of months at the COP17 of the CBD, we are going to adopt the modus operandi of this new subsidiary body to fully operationalize this platform to further amplify how traditional knowledge contributes to solving biodiversity loss. What we are trying to say here in the context of synergies is that it should be a race to the top. The UNCCD should look at what the other sister Rio conventions are doing and try to look at it as an inspiration. So do not delete us here. Do not delete the agenda item on civil society because it has already been recognized in the other conventions that we have a lot to contribute. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I will give one question then we close it because we are running out of time. I wanted to see any journalists there. Journalists? Yes. So I have, are you journalists also? Okay, so I have two journalists. Are you journalists? Okay, I give just the two journalists very short and then I will get back to the panelists and we have to cross because it is a press conference. Yes, please.

Thank you. I am Gonzalo Ortuño from Mongabay Latam. Could you share an example with us of how the objection of gender inclusive language in the agenda is reflected in negotiations? And just to be clear, we are talking that how single country can stop years of work just for an ideological issue or what is the risk? Thank you.

Thank you. Let's prepare and the rest for the second part of the questions.

Go ahead, please.

Hi, my name is Ayod and I'm representing Mongolian Youth Journalist Association. So I'm thrilled to see you here sharing your voices. As mentioned previously, young involvement remains sharing lacking. So if so, how can young people get involved in environmental issues that discussing in COP17 and what kind of programs are there for us that are free for us to participate and what exact problems should youth have to concentrate. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Juliet, prepare on that and then just like, best you give your response and then you give also if there is any message, that last message you wanted to give.

Thank you, Hindu. Thank you for the question. So the example of pushback to gender negotiations, for those of you who are here for the opening plenary, the United States objected to the inclusion of gender on the agenda. It was a procedural attack. Parties were not ready to respond with the procedural mechanism that would have stopped the item and the other two items that we're talking about here from being removed from the agenda. That would have required a vote, which would have been unprecedented in the UNCCD space. So the United States was taking advantage of the knowledge of the way that the parties operate, the consensus process that has been the practice in the UNCCD since its inception. And the US is also pushing to remove the word gender from any of the other decisions that are still on the agenda. They are doing this in contact groups, and they have instituted this as a red line. And as you've said, this is an ideological position. It's based on an executive order that came from President Trump shortly after his inauguration that asserted that any reference to gender was ideological and would not be accepted within United States policies, including the ones represented in multilateral spaces. I talked earlier about power. What I neglected to say and should have said earlier is that the nationalism and authoritarianism being demonstrated by the United States government is not disconnected from patriarchy. It is not disconnected from the conversation about power that we are having here. It is not disconnected from who holds power and in what ways, and that is represented by their actions in this space. We are calling on parties to take the route that they have to maintain power with. This is a space that is based on consensus. When consensus is disrupted by one party, other parties need to come together to use the procedural tools afforded to them to maintain and protect the multilateral space that we are all here to participate in and that parties participate in as equal members of this convention. One party should not be allowed to dictate the conversation in this space. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Juliet.

Thank you, Beth. In terms of how can young people engage, within our national governments or the different countries that we come from, we have national youth councils. So that's actually the best place to start before you even go to a global level because everything that we do starts from home, starts from our communities. So my recommendation is for us as young people, can we start home? If there's something that makes you uncomfortable in your community, in your own country, that should be the first place where you start before you actually come into these global spaces. For the context of UNCCD, we have the UNCCD Youth Caucus and this is the official mechanism that has been set up to bring young people from different countries together within one collective voice but then also to share and exchange knowledge and practices and how we organize ourselves is through regional coordinations so we have um a working group for Asia Africa Europe and we have facilitators that lead these working groups for these different regions but we also have thematics and we have thematic focal points looking again context of UNCCD, what other areas that UNCCD looks at gender, land tenure, food and agriculture, these specific topics within UNCCD as well, migration which is a key issue right now for us as young people, these are the different ways through which we are organizing and this is at a global level but again my first recommendation is start home when something makes you uncomfortable as a young people within your country and community that's where you should start because you can't reflect change at a global level when you fail to do that at the local level within your own country. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So very short reaction from all my remaining four panelists. I start by Elaine, CSO.

Thank you. I think we have heard quite a lot of information and that is what we would like to take away from us here. I will just reiterate because that is where I work in the journalism and I love the question from the youth. What I want to say is that the youth are the majority, the global population today, half of the global population are the youth, right? So you are not the decision makers of tomorrow, you are decision makers of today, as we speak. You are the leaders of today, as we speak. Where is your presence, where are you, what are the opportunities? I'm saying everywhere. Be present in the plenary, wherever there is an open dialogue, an open conference, please be present. One thing I want to tell you, when people see the youth are present, they're encouraged. They want to share that knowledge. And that is where you can talk about intergenerational knowledge. If you're not present, you're missing, you're having the gap. So don't feel uncomfortable. Be everywhere where it's applicable. Ask questions. present your opinion and learn from others because through speaking, through learning, that's where we become better. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Elaine. Sarah, please.

Yes, I would like first to respond to the question about youth because aging population is really a very crucial issue. So at the local level, starting from the village up to the global, there must be spaces where youth can exchange information, practices, ideas, and can represent their interests in various government bodies. So it will require organizing and federation building, also building the skills for advocacy and for practices like agroecological practices. When you are here at the global level, please always remember that there are millions of youth down there who want their issues and their proposals to be articulated by you at the global level.

Thank you. Youth journalists, I think you get some advice. Ole, any closing?

I think those opposed to the agenda, they just need to ask themselves, whose land are they gonna have to restore? Whose knowledge are they really looking into as a solution? I think these are my parting words.

Thank you. Jean.

I wanted to end with a reflection on consensus. In indigenous peoples communities, we make decisions by consensus. But this does not mean unanimity. And so this should not, the objection of one person should not sacrifice the good of all. And there are examples within the different Rio conventions where an objection by one party has been dealt with. The Cancun example is one. So I think that the presidency should take things in hand and not allow this to be the cup where the idea of consensus becomes perverted in a way. So I hope we can learn from this example from indigenous peoples. And then of course I will end in my indigenous language. We have always been saying, we have the solutions. So listen to us. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I take it here from my sister from the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, consensus is not mean a block is and one country cannot block the 195 countries and we are representing the peoples on the ground and the countries have to be bold, they have to remember their responsibility, they are here to respond to what is happening home, they are here to respond to the drought, to the people dying because of hunger, to the people dying because of all disruptions of the weather. They are here not just to talk among themselves and check the box and leave around Mongolia and go back home. If we travel two, three days to leave our family, to leave our community, to come here, is to find a solution. If we are not going to find the solution, why are we here? What are we doing? We are not here by tourism. If we are here by tourism, we will be with our indigenous or pastoralists in their land here and looking them. In this UN conference, they have to remember where consensus work come. It's come from indigenous peoples. Consensus is not a blockage. We wanted to have this cup deliver on action. And for the action, all of us here gender, youth, civil society, local communities, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, we are going to have a demonstration outside at 11 a.m. all journalists you are invited here we are only representing our constituency the people who are presenting here they are going to be outside expressing themselves please rely our voices take our voices to the people outside side. We cannot allow ourselves to go out of this cup without a solution. It is a credibility for parties but it is a solution for our peoples. We need this cup of hope to be a cup of hope with an action. I thank you all of you to be in the room. Thanks the journalist. See you in the protest. See you in what you said. troublemakers.

Make good trouble people.

Good trouble people outside. Thank you so much. We need to leave the room. If you wanted to have interview with all the panelists, you can find them outside of the room here. If you want to have any response, you can find them outside there. Thank you so much.