The Giant Step of Tiny Toes: Youth Impact on the Securitization of Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change has been a global concern since the late 1800s. Responding to the problem, the world governments have been working on significant breakthroughs such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. However, the general society is still unaware of the climate change issue. A series of youth movements are formed within a decade and creating significant impacts within the society. For the rapid growth of the youth movements all over the world, this paper aims to cover some of the movements, especially one that is led by Greta Thunberg.Thunberg’s effort has moved people to prioritize the climate change issues, in a domino effect fashion. By using the qualitative descriptive method, this paper highlights the missing-link on the securitization of climate change in the world’s discourse. Putting the Thunberg action as the momentum of the rising of the climate change issue in the global arena, the paper seeks to understand the securitization process of the issue that has been done. One of the results isthat the United Kingdom became the first country to declare a climate emergency.