A forum for young people: Report of the 2023 YouSustain Conference

Summary

Africa’s youthful population continues to skyrocket as the climate crisis rises. The rising population of the African continent and the quest for decent living through sustainable livelihood options force many to migrate to urban areas in the continent. Poverty, population increase, unemployment, and environmental degradation are the factors that exacerbate this urban sustainability challenge. This has left a deep hole in sustainable infrastructure and practices in major cities within sub-Saharan Africa.

The situation has become dire because young people are at the forefront of the impacts of climate change and unsustainable practices. This brings up the need to bridge the gap between providing sustainable means of livelihood for the younger generation and promoting economic growth.

Achieving sustainability in urban cities is a struggle for most African countries. Although the struggles in some of these cities are unique, shared challenges are ubiquitous across the continent. Hence, synthesising sustainable business ideas into viable ecopreneural ventures was at the core of the YouSustain Conference.

The YouSustain Conference created a forum for young people, developmental agencies, and researchers to have an intellectual discourse on how best young people can be supported to contribute to urban sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa through ecopreneurship. The conference also highlighted presentations from young researchers and exhibitions from young people who are into green businesses.