Ireland’s Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss (English only)

Ireland’s national Children and Young People’s Assembly took place over two weekends in October 2022. The Assembly brought together 35 children and young people aged 7-17 to learn about, deliberate on, and come up with solutions to the challenge of biodiversity loss. It published its final report in April 2023, consisting of a vision statement, six key messages, and 58 calls to action. These have been reflected in the Irish Government’s new National Biodiversity Action Plan.

In response to large-scale environmental degradation, the Irish government declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019, and pledged to convene a Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. That Assembly, for the adult population, deliberated over the course of five weekends from May 2022 to January 2023. Alongside the adults’ Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, a parallel Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss was commissioned by the Irish government, in order to give the population under 18 a chance to have their voices heard within a deliberative democratic process. The Assembly represented one of the first instances anywhere in the world of parallel citizens’ assemblies for children and young people, and adults, running side by side on the same topic.

The Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss’s core goal was to meaningfully realise children and young people’s participation rights by creating a space for intergenerational dialogue on how Ireland will protect its biodiversity.

The Assembly was an innovative experiment in deliberative democracy that brought together 35 children and young people from across Ireland. The Assembly was designed and implemented by an intergenerational team consisting of researchers and practitioners from Dublin City University, University College Cork, and terre des hommes, and a Young Advisory Team of nine children and young people from across Ireland.

The members of the Assembly were selected through a process of stratified random sampling, to capture the diversity of the Irish population. The participant sample was representative of the wider population of children and young people in Ireland in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, geography, urban/rural living, and disability status.

The Assembly met over two weekends in October 2022. Over the course of the two weekends, the Assembly members learned about biodiversity and the causes of and potential solutions to biodiversity loss, deliberated on these topics through age-appropriate mechanisms, and came up with their calls to action.

The Assembly’s final report, published in April 2023 to coincide with Earth Day, called for greater respect for the rights of nature and for biodiversity to be at the centre of decision-making. It also called for children and young people to be included in how we respond to biodiversity loss. The Assembly produced a vision statement, six key messages, and 58 calls to action.

On the final day of the Assembly, the government minister who commissioned the Assembly, Malcolm Noonan T.D., joined the Assembly to receive their calls to action.

The Assembly’s process and outcomes, including the final report, are available on the website: http://www.cyp-biodiversity.ie

But the story didn’t end there. Representatives from the Assembly met with members of the adults’ Citizens’ Assembly in November 2022. In October 2023, they met with the Committee on Environment and Climate Action of the Irish Parliament, and have also met with local government officials, appeared in a number of podcasts and webinars, and have featured in a range of media coverage.

Taking a child rights-based approach was central to the design and implementation of the Assembly. One of the strongest messages that came through from the Assembly was the importance of listening to children and young people, and giving them a meaningful say in decisions that affect them.

This was one of the first instances anywhere in the world of parallel citizens’ assemblies for children and young people, and adults, running in parallel and deliberating on the same topic. The process showed the promise of including children and adults in such an intergenerational dialogue, and giving a strong voice to children and young people.

The Assembly was commissioned by the Minister Malcolm Noonan, the national government minister with responsibility for nature and biodiversity.

The Assembly was designed and implemented by an intergenerational team consisting of researchers and practitioners from Dublin City University, University College Cork, and terre des hommes, and a Young Advisory Team of nine children and young people from across Ireland.

The total cost of the Assembly was approximately €209,000.

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