Nuclear weapons and Climate Change

Event Date: 9th September 2021
Location: Internet 2-4pm BST

UNFOLD ZERO joins our partners Youth Fusion and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament in inviting you to a unique event Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change on September 9.

The event, which is held in commemoration of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, brings youth leaders in nuclear abolition and climate action together with legislators, experts and civil society leaders in a dynamic inter-generational dialogue.

In addition we encourage youth to participate in StepUp4Disarmament on August 29, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. This is a sympbolic action to walk or run 8.29 kilometres (the number represents August 29).

Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change will focus on two of our time’s most pressing global challenges: climate change and the threat of nuclear war, as well as the links between them. It is structured as an intergenerational dialogue of youth leaders with legislators, experts, officials and other participants.

This will be a hybrid event with some speakers and invited guests participating in-person at the event hub, while most others will participate online.

Time: 2-4pm London / 9-11am Eastern Time USA / 3-5pm Central Europe / 7-9pm Kazakhstan
Register for the event

Program

Opening Session:

Moderator: Vanda Proskova, Co-convenor, Youth Fusion. Vice-Chair, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security
Welcome message: Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan
Introductory comments: Representative of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation
Opening presentation: Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Co-Chair of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-proliferation

Panel 1: Short and Long Term Environmental Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Testing & Use

Olzhas Omaruly Suleimenov, Poet. Co-founder, Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement. Kazakhstan Ambassador to UNESCO.
Moetai Brotherson MP. Member of the National Assembly of France. Member of the French Polynesian Assembly
Aigerim Seitenova, Head of Programmes, ‘Wings of Liberty’ Public Foundation. Mmember of OSCE Core Group of Youth Experts

Panel 2: Nuclear War and Climate Change: Nuclear Winter, Famine, Darkness

Professor Andreas Nidecker MD, Radiologist. Board Member, Physicians for Social Responsibility IPPNW Switzerland. President, Basel Peace Office
Marie Claire Graf, Vice-President, Swiss Youth for Climate. Global North Focal Point for YOUNGO, the Children and Youth constituency to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Panel 3: Move the Nuclear Weapons Money:

Kehkashan Basu, Founder and CEO, The Green Hope Foundation. Member, World Future Council. Winner, 2016 Children’s International Peace Prize. Winner, Inaugural Voices Youth Gorbachev-Shultz Legacy Award for Nuclear Disarmament
[A UK speaker on Move the Nuclear Weapons Money tbc]

Panel 4: The Nuclear-Climate Nexus, International Law and Civil Society Action

Rob van Riet, Lawyer, Senior advisor to PNND and the World Future Council
Nicole Ann Ponce, Young lawyer. Member, World’s Youth for Climate Action. Co-Founder and Coordinator, I am Climate Justice movement. Research Fellow, Normandy Chair for Peace

Open discussion:
Moderator: Professor Dan Plesch, Director, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University. Founder and Director, Strategic Concept for the Removal of Arms Proliferation – SCRAP

Closing remarks:

Alyn Ware, Member, World Future Council. Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. International Representative, Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace
HE Mr Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan Ambassador to the UK

Event hub

The event hub for Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change is in the historic Central Hall Westminster in London, which was the venue for the very first United Nations General Assembly meeting. It was at this assembly meeting that the UN adopted its very first resolution which set forth the objective for the total elimination of atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.

StepUp4Disarmament

30 years after the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on 29 August 1991, #Youth4Disarmament and Youth Fusion are calling on young people to #StepUp4Disarmament, by walking or running 8.29 kilometers or the approximate equivalent of 10.9,000 steps, to raise awareness of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, on 29 August 2021, and its cause: a ban on nuclear testing (and achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world).

Youth Fusion put together are some cool phone apps that can help you track your progress:

Individuals will receive a certificate recognising their completion of the #StepUp4Disarmament Campaign and will have the possibility of being featured on the #Youth4Disarmament Instagram by using the hashtags: #StepUp4Disarmament, #StepUp2StopNuclearTests, #ISteppedUp.

Yours sincerely
UNFOLD ZERO