Compassion, creativity and connectedness: Young people and climate change in Australia

The DRR Bootcamp

Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and magnitude of weather-related hazards and disasters around Australia. Young people are sensing this through extensive media coverage of catastrophic bushfires, floods and storms. They are also sensing it through their own lived experiences of hazard related disruption, damage and loss. As a signatory to the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), the Australian Government explicitly recognises Australian young people as ‘agents of change’. However, opportunities for Australian young people to actively participate in DRR remain scarce. Co-designed with the Student Voice Network, the DRR Bootcamp seeks to address this gap by providing secondary school students with opportunities to develop their understanding of disaster risk reduction and initiate youth-led activities in their own communities. It also seeks to amplify young people’s voices in the National DRR policy discourse through the development of an Australian Youth Charter on DRR. The Bootcamp is comprised of three 90-minute workshop that can be delivered online or face-to-face in schools, and students who initiate their own youth-led DRR activities are provided with ongoing support from experienced DRR researchers and practitioners.