Youth networks as bridging actors in environmental governance: Roles, achievements and barriers

Young people form a large demographic group and have specific interests and views on the current socio-environmental crises. However, they are largely underrepresented in decision-making. To bring their visions and claims into environmental governance, youth have created alternative pathways of participation, such as youth networks. Yet, their roles and contributions are poorly understood. Drawing from the first-hand experiences of 12 youth networks, we shed light on the bridging role of youth networks in environmental governance, showcase some of their achievements, describe barriers they encounter and offer recommendations to overcome them. In environmental governance, youth networks connect young individuals and generations, foster interactions between grassroots movements and decision-makers, and between environmental governance processes. Youth networks have accomplished tangible achievements. They empower youth to transform parts of societies, are pivotal for the recognition of youth as key actors, and influence some policy processes. Yet, youth networks face major accessibility and systemic barriers that hinder their meaningful engagements and contributions. To lift these barriers, environmental governance actors should pay attention to the processes of youth participation, recognize youth rights to participate in decision-making, follow best practices on meaningful youth engagement, better support grassroots communities and projects, and critically rethink environmental governance to prevent power imbalances. Policy implications—Youth networks are driving positive, bottom-up changes for people and nature and play an important bridging role in environmental governance. Yet, their participation is not yet mainstreamed nor meaningful. All environmental governance actors and generations need to work together to overcome youth engagement barriers and ensure the meaningful participation of this overlooked demographic group that is crucial for the needed societal transformations ahead of us. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.