Photos: Unsplash and Moa Karlberg/norden.org

To facilitate youth engagement and youth ownership of activities, the initiative was built around the following organisational structure:

Steering committee: To develop and steer the implementation of the project, a steering committee was established. The steering committee planned activities and put young people in contact with networks, ministers, MPs, the UN, and the EU system (both the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on Climate Change), as well as other stakeholders and experts.

The steering committee included representatives from the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Nordic Council, the Nordic Youth Council, the Nordic Committee for Children and Young People, Danish UN youth delegates, and Nordic youth from Sweden and Aaland. The youth representatives were appointed by the Nordic Youth Advisory Group.

Nordic Youth Advisory Committee: To further mobilise and engage youth and to develop a project based on youth priorities and ideas, a Nordic Youth Advisory Committee was established. Based on an open call to Nordic youth organisations and movements, as well as youth networks including the Nordic Committee for Children and Young People (Nordbuk), the Nordic Youth Council, Re-generation 2030 (youth movement for sustainability in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region), etc., young people were invited to join the Advisory Committee, which was open to any interested young people.

The Nordic Youth Advisory Committee consisted of approximately 15-25 young Nordic people (which varied over time) and was a dynamic group open to any young people with an interest in biodiversity and the Nordic youth engagement activities. The members took part in and/or took the lead in several activities, including the development of a TOOLKIT and MANUAL for youth engagement, organizing national and regional youth workshops, communication campaigns and outreach to youth networks, and summarising the outcomes of youth deliberations towards a Nordic Youth Position Paper.

Nordic youth delegation: The Nordic Youth Advisory Committee selected a delegation that participated directly in the development and negotiations of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The selection process was carried out by the Nordic Youth Advisory Committee, which reached out to the aforementioned youth organisations and networks. The youth delegation was selected on democratic principles from among young people who had expressed a qualified interest.

The mandate of the youth delegation was based on the Nordic Youth Position Paper, which had been developed through a comprehensive youth consultation process involving approximately 3,000 young people from the Nordic countries.

The delegation that participated in COP15 (the 15th Meeting of the Conference of Parties) included 18 Nordic young people, including Sámi youth and national UN youth delegates. The youth delegation was accredited through the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers as observers to the convention, and members were able to express their opinions in a formal setting.