ABSTRACT

Youth NGOs have participated in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over a decade, yet research into their experiences is lacking. Drawing upon an ethnographic case study conducted between 2015 and 2018, we ask: does youth participation increase the democratic legitimacy of a UNFCCC-orchestrated global climate change regime? Applying the concepts of ‘input’ and ‘throughput’ legitimacy, we find that the UNFCCC offers an accessible entry-point for young newcomers into climate governance, but this does not necessarily lead to engagement in orchestrated initiatives. A potential exception to this is Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) which we identify as an overlooked example of UNFCCC orchestration. We thus propose a conceptual distinction between ‘exclusive’ and ‘inclusive’ orchestration, the former merely connecting likeminded intermediaries while the latter broadens inclusion and actively redresses power imbalances, urging more proactive pursuit of democratic legitimacy, including youth engagement from the UNFCCC Secretariat and COP Presidencies.

摘要

青年非政府组织参与联合国气候变化框架公约（UNFCCC）已有十多年，但缺乏对其经验的研究。借鉴 2015 年至 2018 年间进行的民族志案例研究，我们问：青年参与是否增加了 UNFCCC 协调的全球气候变化制度的民主合法性？应用“输入”和“吞吐量”合法性的概念，我们发现 UNFCCC 为年轻的新人提供了一个可进入气候治理的切入点，但这并不一定会导致参与精心策划的倡议。一个潜在的例外是气候赋权行动 (ACE)，我们认为它是 UNFCCC 编排的一个被忽视的例子。因此，我们提出了“排他性”和“包容性”编排之间的概念区别，