The European Climate Pact and the Municipality of Sousel, together with the Era Uma Voz Association, will encourage children’s involvement in shaping climate policies for the municipality, using their imagination to inspire commitments from the entire community to sustainability and local resilience, as stated in a press release.
According to the same source, on October 17, 18 and 20, the “Sousel Climate Encounters” will take place, in which children and young people from this municipality in the Portalegre district will attend the screening of a documentary, contribute to the collective painting of a mural about climate change, and participate in a debate with the President of the Municipal Chamber, Manuel Valério.
“The aim is to encourage children, members of their community, and local political representatives to think about paths and mechanisms to enable population involvement in climate governance and to promote active contributions to the Municipal Climate Action Plan,” says Sabrina Fialho, a researcher in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and ambassador of the European Climate Pact. “This encounter will help raise climate awareness among all participants and, above all, stimulate reflections on the place of children in defining more sustainable futures.”
The initiative is part of the research project “The World Is Ours – Climate Debates,” developed in the municipality under a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (see Instagram page attached). In this research, about a year ago a hundred people participated in a “Legislative Theater,” a session in which children between 8 and 15 years old staged local issues and the audience proposed ideas and voted on solutions. Of the proposals that the children put to vote, the most voted one was to spend a day with the mayor of their municipality, Manuel Valério.
According to the European Climate Pact, initiatives like Sousel’s are particularly relevant at a time when there is growing contestation of energy transition models that exclude local populations from the decisions that will affect them.
On Tuesday, October 20, this deliberation will be realized and there will be a meeting of the participants in the “Climate Debates” with the President of the Sousel City Council. Starting at 09:00 in the morning, the mayor will discuss with the municipality’s children the role they can have in the climate management of their municipality. This session, whose idea originated from the young people themselves, has the backing of the leadership of the Sousel Group of Schools.
“This activity aligns with the objective of the European Climate Pact to promote systemic changes, empowering younger citizens to influence local climate policies as well as private sector practices,” says Sabrina Fialho. According to the ambassador and coordinator of the research project, by carrying out this action in a rural area like Sousel, the European Climate Pact is expanding its geographic reach and visibility in regions that are less frequently involved in climate debates.
On Saturday, October 17, the Sousel Climate Encounters will screen the documentary “Future Council,” which follows the journey of eight children across several European countries, in which they speak with political leaders, scientists, and businesspeople about solutions to address the climate crisis. “The screening of the documentary ‘Future Council’ will be a powerful call to action for all participants, young and old, using the imagination of the children to inspire a community-wide commitment to sustainability and local resilience in the face of the challenges posed by climate change,” says Sabrina Fialho.
The European Climate Pact is a central initiative of the European Green Deal promoted by the European Union. Its objective is to mobilize communities across Europe for investments, activities and processes that progressively become less dependent on fossil fuels and the emission of other greenhouse gases, promoting the transition to safer and healthier ways of living and to a sustainable economy.
