TakingITGlobal

The young people of the world believe that we must focus upon teconomic resilience, ecological resilience, and resliience on a community level. Economic resilience must be addressed through increasing the provision of economic aid from developed countries to nations more vulnerable towards the effects of climate change. Contribution of monetary resources from developed nations towards the Green Climate Fund, a fund which assists developing countries in their adaptation and mitigation towards climate change could achieve this. Students from the Philippines believe that we must have strong mechanisms in place to ensure transparency and accountability, as well as people's participation in the disbursement and usage of funds. Subsidies and funding for sustainable infrastructure promotes economic resilience on a national level,ensuring communities are better prepared for looming natural disasters. For example, the government of the Philippines has taken steps towards these initiatives by passing an act in 2012, known as the People's Survival Fund, to help communities implement local climate change adaptation plans that will improve their resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change. Ecological resilience throughout all nations should be promoted through the preservation of biodiversity in key areas, such as marshes around floodplains, in order to mitigate damage to human settlements due to natural disasters. Ensuring that high levels of biodiversity exist within our natural environments positively impact the resilience of these environments towards forest fires, floods and droughts. One way this can be done is through protecting our national parks and wildlife reserves. Resilience on a community level must be reinforced through volunteer-led community organizations working with government organizations, global and local charities, as well as non-profits acting as key facilitators and reinforcers of resilience in these situations. For example, Medecins Sans Frontieres has a disaster response plan that includes the recruitment of staff in regions of crisis to assist in humanitarian efforts. Building and infrastructure projects can be designed with adaptations that increase their resilience towards the environmental concerns of the region, such as flood-proof housing. This ensures that necessary rebuilding in the aftermath of disasters is minimal. "For Ghana, international aid is crucial to some extent, as the government does not have the resources or proper management to deal with this issue alone." (Ghana)

• Cover