Children as Climate Citizens: A Sociolegal Approach to Public Participation

This book provides a socio-legal analysis of the public participation of children in climate change matters, whilst developing a range of tools through which their participation can be increased.

Climate change affects young people in many ways: causing severe threats to child survival, health and wellbeing, food security and nutrition, and access to education. But this book maintains that children and youth are not to be identified solely with their vulnerability to climate change. They are also key stakeholders in the sustainable implementation of long-term climate change policies, and their inclusion in decision-making processes is a measure of intergenerational equity. Children’s rights law is vague about the right to public participation or the environmental rights of children as such. In response, this book examines the often-informal network of pathways through which the public participation of children takes place: from high level conferences and governance structures to grassroots youth movements and climate change litigation. Exploring the difficulties, but also the opportunities and aspirations of children as citizens challenging the current climate change regime, the book proposes legal and policy tools for children’s participation in global climate change governance, as it outlines a concept of children’s climate citizenship.

This book will appeal to scholars in the areas of sociolegal studies, environmental and climate change law, children’s rights and social movements, as well as policy makers and young people with interests in climate activism.

Kata Dozsa is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp, Belgium.