ABSTRACT
While the Earth’s state is reaching the tipping point where dangerous consequences of climate change will become more intense and frequent, young climate activists, including children, show desperate and sometimes radical attempts to raise their voices and demand urgent action. School walkouts, protests, hashtag activism and climate litigation are among the most recent grassroots actions from children to draw attention to the climate crisis and the social injustices it causes, as well as to hold governments to account for not doing enough to tackle such impacts for present and future generations. This introduction sets the stage for the concept of recognising children as climate citizens and their right to participation in climate change matters but it quickly confronts us with a multi-faceted problem statement: the law is rather vague as regards children’s right to public participation; the social realities of global climate politics show the marginalisation of children instead of inclusion and empowerment; and children’s desperate call on adults to support their efforts for climate justice often remains without adequate response. Throughout the chapters which follow, normative, political as well as everyday solutions to these pitfalls will be offered to the readers.
