Malaysia hosts ASEAN Children & Youth Climate Summit 2025 in Langkawi

LANGKAWI: Children and young people are among the most vulnerable to climate change, despite contributing the least to it.

With that in mind, over 100 youth delegates from across ASEAN have gathered in Langkawi for the ASEAN Children & Youth Climate Summit (ACYCS) 2025, a youth-led platform placing children’s rights at the center of climate action.

The three-day summit, co-organised by UNICEF and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, runs alongside the 18th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME).

With the theme Empowering ASEAN Youth for a Climate-Resilient Future, the programme includes youth dialogues, workshops, a Youth Solutions Marketplace and field visits to Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark.

It will culminate in the first-ever ASEAN Children & Youth Climate Declaration, which youth representatives will deliver directly to ministers at the AMME.

“This summit is proof that ASEAN’s children and youth are not on the sidelines of climate action, they are leading it.

“Their participation is shaping influence, and influence will become impact for every child,” said Robert Gass, UNICEF Representative to Malaysia.

Nasha Lee, UNICEF Malaysia's Climate and Environment Programme Specialist, also highlighted the role of youth in climate advocacy that needed to move beyond token participation.

“Too often young people are included only as a formality. What we want is to move from participation to influence, where children and youth have a direct say in decisions that matter to them,” she added

UNICEF reports that 41 percent of children in ASEAN face five or more overlapping climate and environmental shocks, nearly three times the global average.

As such, Deputy Secretary General for Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry, Datuk Nor Yahati Awang, said the summit underlines the government’s commitment to ensuring youth perspectives are part of regional climate policies.

With ASEAN faces intensifying climate impacts, ACYCS 2025 signals a shift from youth participation to policy influence, placing young voices at the heart of decisions that will shape the region’s future.